Tight vote looms on same-sex marriage

the Constitutional Convention just hours away, a proposal to allow voters to decide the future of same-sex marriage in Massachusetts was hanging by a thread in the Legislature last night.

By all accounts, House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi, Senate President Therese Murray, and Governor Deval Patrick, all strong supporters of gay marriage, were within one or two votes of blocking the proposal from reaching the 2008 ballot.

The voter-initiated constitutional amendment, which would define marriage as a union between one man and one woman, must win the support of at least 50 of the state's 200 lawmakers in two consecutive legislative sessions to win a place on the 2008 ballot. The measure won its first round of approval, with 62 votes, in January, at the tail end of the last legislative session. Through turnover and resignations, support dwindled to just 57 votes by this spring, even before the intense lobbying began.

A victory for the ban is unlikely today, with political leaders saying they will delay a vote until later this session if they do not believe they have the votes to defeat the amendment. The measure will die if no vote is taken by the end of the 2007-2008 legislative session.

This REALLY pisses me off. The elected officials of this Commonwealth KNOW how the people who elected them feel about this issue and yet they continue to spit in our faces and do whatever is necessary...by hook or by crook...to get what THEY want.

It's high time that Tar and Feathers be resurrected as a means of We The People to express our displeasure.

I live in MA and recieved this email last night from my state representitive:

“Thank you for contacting me concerning the Constitutional Convention on June 14. Thank you also for your support of the question defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman. As you know, throughout this long debate on Beacon Hill, I have consistently voted for traditional marriage. I have always believed that the people, not the courts, should decide such an important matter as this.

As far as the Constitutional Convention on Thursday goes, I can't say with certainty that we will have a straight up and down vote on the question. There are many parliamentary maneuvers the Senate President (the presiding officer at the Con Con) can use to either delay or deny the vote. Additionally, both the Speaker and the Governor support gay marriage. Amazingly, Governor Patrick has even said that we legislators should break our oaths of office and deprive the people of the Commonwealth through any means possible of the opportunity to vote on this important issue

Obviously, I won't do that. If given the chance, I intend to vote as Idid before to pass the question so that the people will have the chance to vote.

This has been a lengthy and heated debate. My pro-traditional marriage position has definitely cost me. One of my oldest and longest friends will no longer speak with me. Our friendship has been a casualty of this emotionally charged battle.

Thanks for your support of this important issue. When you go to the polls I hope you will remember my steadfast position and support me as well.”

Tyranny is right! It Communism. And it is alive and well here in the USA! Such a sad point for the birthplace of American Independents to have reached.

I have seen the vile pictures of what these people call pride. It is nothing to be proud of. If MA residents are denyed their constitutional right on this, the mass exodus thus far will triple and quadruple.

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