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This page tells the story of marriage equality in Massachusetts.
Feel free to jump ahead to the happy ending
On May 17, 2004, marriage became lawful for gay and lesbian
couples living within Massachusetts. Legal marriage here provides
a platform to achieve marriage recognition by states across
the country and by the federal government. Protecting equal
marriage rights in Massachusetts has become critical to achieving
equal rights for gay and lesbian couples in America.
On November 18, 2003, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
ruled that the Commonwealth’s gay and lesbian citizens
must have the same access to civil marriage that other citizens
do. In the majority opinion, Chief Justice Margaret Marshall
concluded that "the right to marry means little if it does
not include the right to marry the person of one's choice."
She continued, "the benefits accessible only by way of
a marriage license are enormous, touching nearly every aspect
of life and death, [and] the marriage ban works a deep and scarring
hardship on a very real segment of the community for no rational
reason." Both Chief Justice Marshall and Justice Greaney,
in his concurring opinion, noted the similarities between this
case and the U.S. Supreme Court case that ended the ban on mixed-race
marriages in the United States. The Court gave the legislature
180 days to bring Massachusetts laws into accord with the ruling.
Sadly, since the day the Court ruling was announced, Governor
Mitt Romney has led the conservatives in our state in an effort
to reverse the Supreme Judicial Court's decision by amending
the Massachusetts Constitution. Romney has testified before
the U.S. Congress that gay marriage here can serve as a platform
for establishing these rights across the country and that we
must amend state and federal constitutions to prevent this from
happening. They seek not just to end equal marriage rights here,
but to prevent them from being recognized anywhere in America.
To amend the Massachusetts Constitution, the legislature must
approve the text of a constitutional amendment in two consecutive
years. In March, 2004, the legislature narrowly approved
of an amendment that would eliminate gay and lesbian marriage rights here,
but establish civil unions for same sex couples. The amendment had to
be approved by the legislature a second time, however, in 2005, before being
put on the ballot (in November, 2006).
The volunteers at SupportEquality.org created this site in the Summer of 2004
to help defeat this constitutional amendment by winning a handful of key
legislative elections. Hundreds of donors made many generous donations
through SupportEquality to key candidates and organizations.
The election results on November 2, 2004, and in two subsequent
special elections, were remarkable:
Not a single incumbent who supported equal marriage rights
was defeated in Massachusetts, and several anti-equality incumbents were
unseated!
On September 14, 2005, we reaped the reward of all our efforts. The Massachusetts legislature defeated the 2006 amendment by 157 to 39 votes! While some legislators voted against the amendment because they oppose civil unions, MassEquality estimated after the vote that at least 115 of those legislators actively supported marriage equality.
The battle is not over, however. Another constitutional amendment has been proposed, that would end same-sex marriages in Massachusetts without providing for civil unions. A petition to put this amendment on the ballot received many more than the 66,000 signatures required, but it must first be approved by Constitutional Conventions in 2006 and 2007. Since this is considered a citizens petition it will require approval by just 25% of the legislators, i.e. 50 votes. The 2006 Constitutional Convention recessed to July 12, 2006, then recessed again to November 9, 2006. We expect a vote on that date. We need another 36 votes to defeat this amendment in the legislature. If this amendment is approved by the legislature in 2006 and again in 2007 it will go before the voters in November, 2008.
The results of the Sept. 19 primaries were encouraging, but we're still a long way from being confident of success on November 9, 2006:
- Eight incumbent pro-equality legislators faced opposition on Sept. 19, 2006, and all were victorious. Congratulations to Senators Harriette Chandler, Bob Havern and Dianne Wilkerson, and to Representatives Tony Cabral, Mark Falzone, Smitty Pignatelli, Marie St. Fleur and Ben Swan. Since the November 2003 Goodridge ruling, not a single pro-equality legislator has lost an election.
- The primary also featured twelve elections for open seats, nine of which are now held by retiring anti-equality legislators. Pro-equality candidates won Democratic primaries in eight of these twelve open seat elections.
- Among the victories are some symbolically important wins. Pro-equality candidate Steve D'Amico will be on the November ballot to replace the most vociferous opponent of marriage equality in the legislature, retiring Rep. Phil Travis.
- Along with D'Amico, victorious pro-equality candidates today were nominees for the House Willie Mae Allen, Stephen DiNatale, Claire Naughton, Sarah Peake, Rosemary Sandlin and Steven Stat Smith.
- Finally, anti-equality legislator Marie Parente lost to challenger John Fernandes, who pledges to vote against the amendment that would ban same-sex marriage. This result brings to four the number of incumbent legislators who have lost elections since the Goodridge decision -- all four anti-equality, three to pro-equality challengers.
Supporters of marriage equality made a great showing in the polls on November 7 -- all but one of the candidates on the SupportEquality site were elected. First and foremost, Massachusetts will soon have a pro-equality Governor, Deval Patrick. The other victors were Steve D'Amico, James Eldridge, Barbara L'Italien, David Linsky, Sarah Peake, Rosemary Sandlin and Cleon Turner. The only defeat was Claire Naughton, by 2% in 1st Bristol. Complete results are at http://www.boston.com/news/special/politics/2006_elections/general_results/.
On November 9, 2006, the Constitutional Convention reconvened, and voted, 109 to 87, to recess to January 2, the last day of the legislative session. We hoped that this meant the end of the amendment, but it was not to be. There are more details in this Boston Globe Article and on the MassEquality web site at http://massequality.org.
Governor Romney and the proponents of the amendment filed two law suits asking the Supreme Judicial Court to compel the Constitutional Convention to vote on the proposed amendment. While the cases did not succeed, the SJC declared in no uncertain terms that the Massachusetts Constitution obliged the legislators to vote on the amendment. GLAD posted the decision at this link. The SJC decision generated intense political pressure on the legislators to vote on the amendment.
On January 2, 2007, the Constitutional Convention voted, without debate, to advance the proposed constitutional amendment. 61 representatives and senators voted for the amendment and 132 voted against it. But the measure needed only 50 votes to advance. If a similar vote had taken place in the following legislative session the measure would have appeared on the ballot in November, 2008. While we gained a few legislative votes in the 2006 elections, it was touch and go to keep the measure off the ballot.
MassEquality worked tirelessly, with tremendous help from Governor Patrick, House Speaker Sal DiMasi and Senate President Therese Murray, to line up the additional 12 votes they needed. On June 14, 2007, the Constitutional Convention voted 151 to 45 to kill the proposed amendment. The amendment will not appear on the ballot in November, 2008. While it would be theoretically possible for the proponents to start over again by collecting signatures on a new version of the amendment nobody expects this.
Marriage Equality in Massachusetts Has Been Saved!
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