New plan proposed to
halt gay marriages
By AP from boston.com
on the Web, August 3, 2005
Boston -- Opponents of gay
marriage filed a ballot initiative with the state yesterday that, if passed,
would amend the state constitution to ban gay marriages, an expected move that
casts doubt on the future of another ballot initiative pending in the
Legislature.
The Massachusetts Family Institute submitted the citizen's petition a day before
today's deadline. Raymond L. Flynn, a former mayor of Boston, is on the
list of 30 people who signed the petition.
The initiative would define marriage as between a man and a woman. It is
part of an effort to overturn the legalization of same-sex marriage, which the
Supreme Judicial Court legalized in 2003.
After the ruling, lawmakers reached a compromise ban, which would allow
Vermont-style civil unions. That version was passed in one joint session
of the Legislature, called the Constitutional Convention. It must be
approved a second time.
In June, the Massachusetts Family Institute and a coalition of other groups
opposed to gay marriage said they were launching the effort to amend the state
constitution, and pledged to seek the defeat of the earlier version.
Governor Mitt Romney withdrew his support for the compromise ban and threw his
support behind the new plan, saying the pending constitutional amendment had
''muddied" the issue of gay marriage by legalizing civil unions.
After the new initiative is approved by Attorney General Thomas Reilly's office,
proponents must gather about 66,000 signatures. Then the measure must be
approved by two Constitutional Conventions in a row, before it would be put to
voters in 2008.
Since the first gay weddings on May 17, 2004, thousands of same-sex couples have
married.
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