To be specific:
A proposed constitutional ban on same-sex marriage was defeated today by a joint session of the Legislature by a vote of 45 to 151, eliminating any chance of getting it on the ballot in November 2008. At least 50 votes were needed to advance the measure. The vote came after House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi, Senate President Therese Murray, and Governor Deval Patrick conferred this morning and concluded that they have the votes to kill the proposal. "In Massachusetts today, the freedom to marry is secure," Patrick told reporters after the vote. The three leaders - along with gay rights activists - spent the last several days intensely lobbying a dozen or more state representatives and state senators who had previously supported the amendment but signaled that they were open to changing their positions.
Because fewer than 50 of the state's 200 lawmakers supported the amendment, it will not appear on the 2008 ballot, giving gay marriage advocates a major victory in their battle with social conservatives to keep same-sex marriage legal in Massachusetts. Opponents of gay marriage face an increasingly tough battle to win legislative approval of any future petitions to appear on a statewide ballot. The next election available to them is 2012....
I will admit that I am completely astonished. I fully expected that the measure would make it out to the voters, and that the right to marry would be removed next year. It's nice to see that, for once, believing the worst of politicians was not justified.
I do wonder what the opponents of gay marriage will do now. It's unlikely that they'll just stop agitating for it. Judging from recent legislative results in Massachusetts, however, it may not be a great issue to target legislators with, even in marginal districts.
That said ... I also wonder what the governor and speaker had to give away to get this result. (According to the Boston Herald's City Desk weblog, the governor promised to be at "a long list of fund-raisers". Which, honestly, seems comparatively small potatoes given what they might have demanded.)
Posted by iain at June 14, 2007 12:55 PM
