Calling it a
''question of conscience,'' Massachusetts governor-elect
Deval Patrick urged legislators on Tuesday not to vote on a
constitutional amendment meant to ban same-sex marriage in
Massachusetts, the only state that currently allows
it. ''I believe that adults should be free to choose
whom they wish to love and to marry,'' Patrick said
shortly before lawmakers were to meet for the final day of
their session.
Outside the
statehouse, crowds of same-sex marriage supporters and
opponents waved signs as legislators began arriving. The
amendment's backers had collected 170,000 signatures
to get the amendment on the 2008 ballot, but it still
needs the legislature's approval. Tuesday is the last
day of the legislative session.
Last fall the
legislature angered the amendment's backers and the Gov.
Mitt Romney when it recessed without voting on the
issue. Senate president Robert Travaglini didn't
immediately say if he would force a vote on Tuesday.
Patrick, a
supporter of gay couples' right to marriage, met with house
speaker Salvatore DiMasi to lobby against taking an up or
down vote on the amendment, which would leave
Massachusetts's existing same-sex marriages intact but
ban any more. ''Above all, this is a question of
conscience,'' Patrick, a Democrat, said in a statement.
''Using the initiative process to give a minority
fewer freedoms than the majority, and to inject the
state into fundamentally private affairs, is a
dangerous precedent and an unworthy one for this
commonwealth.''
About 8,000
same-sex couples have wed in Massachusetts since the supreme
judicial court ruled in 2003 that the state constitution
guarantees gay couples the right to marry. A few other
states offer civil unions with similar rights for gay
couples, but only Massachusetts allows full marriage.
Backers of the
amendment gathered at the foot of the statehouse steps on
Tuesday with signs reading ''Let the People Vote.'' Many
argue it should be up to the people, not the courts,
to define something as important as marriage.
''Legislators are sent to Beacon Hill to vote on a matter,
not to not vote on a matter,'' said amendment backer
Paul Ferro, 30, of Norton.
Supporters of
same-sex marriage, who held their own rally across Beacon
Street, said the civil rights of a minority should not be
put to a popular vote. ''Let the People Marry,'' read
one retort.
Some lawmakers
have said they wouldn't vote on the amendment issue
because the ballot question would write discrimination into
the constitution. (AP)
