High court rejects
bid to halt same-sex marriages
By AP from boston.com
from the Web, May 27, 2005
BOSTON --The state's highest
court on Friday rejected a Roman Catholic activist's bid to halt gay marriages
in Massachusetts until after voters have weighed in on a constitutional ban.
The Supreme Judicial Court authorized the nation's first same-sex weddings with
its landmark November 2003 ruling. C. Joseph Doyle, executive director of the
Catholic Action League, had argued that the ruling went too far by allowing gay
marriages to proceed before voters had a chance to consider the constitutional
amendment.
Doyle's lawsuit sought a stay on gay marriages until after the vote, which could
happen in November 2006, at the earliest, but the high court rejected his
request.
In March 2004, two months before the SJC's gay marriage ruling took effect,
lawmakers gave their initial approval to a constitutional ban that would
simultaneously legalize Vermont-style civil unions. They must pass it a
second time during the current legislative session before it can reach the
statewide ballot.
Doyle had appealed to the full court after a single justice dismissed his claim
last year. Justice Roderick Ireland said same-sex couples shouldn't be
denied the right to marry based on the possibility that voters would approve the
amendment.
"The single justice was correct and well within his discretion" in denying
Doyle's request, the high court wrote.
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