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Mass. Governor Moves to Block Gay MarriageBy REUTERS from the NYTimes on the Web, April 15, 2004BOSTON (Reuters) - Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney filed emergency legislation on Thursday to freeze a court order that directs the state to issue marriage licenses to gay couples next month. Massachusetts is under court order to start issuing marriage licenses to gay couples on May 17, despite the legislature's approval last month of a state constitutional amendment banning such marriages. ``I would like the right to represent the people and my own office before the courts of Massachusetts,'' Romney told a press conference. His legislation would allow the governor's own special counsel to appear before the state's top court to request a stay of its decision authorizing gay marriage. The unusual request comes after Massachusetts Attorney General Tom Reilly refused to argue on the governor's behalf because he feels Romney's position is political rather than legal. Arline Isaacson, co chair of the Massachusetts Gay and Lesbian Political Caucus accused Romney of, ``beginning to act like a religious zealot, and that is grossly inappropriate.'' Meanwhile, the state's Registry of Vital Records and Statistics will organize information meetings for city and town clerks on how to proceed with gay marriage in the event that Romney's bill fails. Gay marriage became a hot-button election year issue after thousands of couples were married in San Francisco and gay couples were married by officials from New Mexico to a small village in upstate New York. Separately, a new poll of New York voters revealed that the state's registered voters are against gay marriage by 49 percent to 42 percent. The Quinnipiac University survey found New Yorkers support civil unions by 58 percent to 34 percent. But the poll also found that New Yorkers saw no need for a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage -- something proposed by President Bush -- by a margin of 65 percent to 28 percent. Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, the presumed Democratic presidential challenger, opposes a constitutional amendment but favors civil unions that would give same-sex couples most of the rights enjoyed by married couples. The poll of 1,279 registered voters took place between April 5-12 and had a margin of error of 2.7 percentage points. New York's Republican Mayor Michael Bloomberg has said he has no plans to marry same-sex couples. |
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