News
2006-05-18
May 17 marks
two-year anniversary of marriage equality in Massachusetts
Marriage in
Massachusetts celebrates second anniversary
More
than 8,000
As local and
national leaders plot its demise, same-sex marriage in
Massachusetts—and the 8,100 gay and lesbian couples
who so far have taken advantage of
it—celebrated a sweet second anniversary on
Wednesday.
Gay rights
activists plan to celebrate the historic day by delivering
flowers to state legislators in Boston who are planning a
July 12 vote on a proposed initiative petition that
could amend the state constitution to
declare same-sex marriage illegal.
In light of the
anniversary, many gays and lesbians have grown
apathetic, according to some in the state.
"A lot of
people...don't really understand, " said Patricia
Griffin, a retired professor who married her wife in 2004,
to the Boston Republican. "They think we have
the right, that people are safe and nothing will
happen. It could be taken away."
Nationally, the
Federal Marriage Amendment—the push to amend the U.S.
Constitution to define marriage as the union of one man and
one woman—is expected to be brought up Thursday
in the Senate Judiciary Committee. The measure is
being pushed by Republican senators Bill Frist and Wayne
Allard in a widely believed effort to mobilize their
conservative base to get out to the polls for
November's midterm elections.
“With gas
prices hitting $3 a gallon, millions living without health
care, a broken immigration system, and an endless war in
Iraq, Congress should be helping make America
stronger, not weaker, by trying to put discrimination
in the United States Constitution,” said Human Rights
Campaign president Joe Solmonese in a statement.
While states like
Vermont and California offer civil unions and
domestic partnerships for gay and lesbian couples,
Massachusetts remains the only state with marriage
equality.
Gay couples
swarmed altars immediately after Massachusetts legalized
same-sex marriage two years ago, but according to numbers
from the Department of Public Health, the number of
same-sex marriages dropped sharply from that time. The
decision to legalize same-sex marriage in the
Massachusetts came from a state supreme judicial court
decision in November 2003 that stated it was
unconstitutional to deny gay couples to right to
marry, and the court stayed its ruling until May 17 of the
following year. (The Advocate)
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