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handful of prominent Massachu
setts legal figures have written to
state legislators urging them to
pass a law that will carry out the
Catholics condemn; polls backfire on bigots;
ruling of the Supreme Judicial
Court allowing gays to marry. The letter greeted
Dick Cheney stabs his daughter in the back by B o b R oeh r
them at the start of legislative session Jan. 5.
“We see the S JC ’s ruling as unequivocal: The
existing han on marriage for gay people is
unconstitutional,” they wrote. “We urge each of
you as members of a coordinated branch of gov
ernment sworn to uphold the constitution, and
the rule of law, to use the remainder of the time
period in the court’s stay to take any and all
steps possible to facilitate the orderly issuance of
marriage licenses to qualified same-sex couples.”
Lawrence Tribe, a constitutional scholar at
Harvard University, was the primary drafter of
the letter. Signing it were former U.S. Attorney
and Republican Gov. William Weld; former state
Once the politicians start using
Attorneys General Scott Harshbarger and James
the Constitution to take away
M. Shannon; and Renee M. Landers, Boston Bar
rights, I wondet which ones
Association president.
they'll go after next A
All of the signers had announced their positions
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at earlier dates. However, it is unusual for them to
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take such a public stance in lobbying legislators.
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Openly gay state Sen. Jarrett T. Barrios has
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said that he intends to apply for a marriage
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license when they become available in the
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spring. He told The Boston Globe that the letter
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would have a positive effect, though no one is
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predicting the extent of that effect.
In a Jan. 3 column in the Globe, Patrick Guer-
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legislator, called the courts decision “a conserva
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tive ruling on gay marriage.” He pointed to its argu
ment that “exclusive unions, recognized by a civil
marriage license, will provide greater family stabil
The Human Rights Campaign has launched an advertising campaign quoting conservative
ity and a more ordered society. Self-proclaimed
opponents to the Federal Marriage Amendment
pro-family groups should be embracing stable rela
tionship«, not encouraging transient ones."
the Catholic Lawyers’ Guild, Robert Bork lam “nearly seven in 10 Massachusetts residents
Guerriero reminded readers that state
basted the judicial tyranny of the Massachusetts
want to vote on whether the state should issue
lawmakers “repeatedly failed” to act on lesser
Supreme Judicial Court in deciding the gay mar marriage licenses to gay couples.” The respected
legislation, including domestic partnership and
riage case. He said the majority decision was based firm Zogby International conducted the poll.
civil union bills that he had introduced.
on “arguments that did not rise above the quality
But the coalition’s spin turned to humilia
of a late-night philosophy session in a dormitory.” tion Jan. 8 when it became known that it had
nce again the Catholic Church has raised
Bork was nominated for the U.S. Supreme
released only part of the survey results and had
its voice in opposition to same-sex mar Court by President Ronald Reagan but was grossly misrepresented the total picture.
riage. Speaking from the pulpit Jan. 11, Boston
rejected by the Senate as too ideological.
“1 want to apologize,” spokesman Ronald A.
Archbishop Sean P. O ’Malley called upon “our
Neither set of comments surprised Margaret Crews told the Globe. “I misspoke. I misspoke
Catholic lawyers and jurists to live your bap Williams, interim executive director of Gay &
primarily out of ignorance.” The coalition
tismal commitment” and oppose such unions.
Lesbian Advocates &. Defenders, the group that quickly released results from the remaining 13
“The prevalence of divorce and cohabitation
brought the case. “This is not about the questions on the 20-question survey.
in the last decades has done great harm to the
Catholic Church,” she told The Boston Globe.
The key question, “Marriage is such an impor
institution of marriage, by taking the focus off “It’s about the rights and freedoms under the
tant institution that it should be defined in our
children," he said. “Same-sex marriage will only
Massachusetts Constitution.... The separation
constitution as the union of a man and a woman,”
further the tendency to only see marriage as
of church and state should be very clear.”
found 48 percent agreeing and 49 percent dis
being for the good of the adult without taking
agreeing with the statement. That is consistent
into account the children and their interests.”
arlier in the week the right-wing Coalition
with earlier polls that had found Massachusetts
After the service, at a luncheon sponsored by
for Marriage released survey results claiming
voters fairly evenly divided on the subject.
M arriage U pdate
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Perhaps most importantly, the Zogby poll
found that only 5 percent of likely voters believe
gay marriage is the most important issue facing
the state. Jobs, the economy, health care and
education all ranked far higher.
A
nother right-wing organization, the Tupelo,
Miss.-hased American Family Association,
has been running “America’s Poll on Homosex
ual Marriage” at www.marriagepoll.com for the
past few weeks. Only votes with a valid e-mail
address will be counted. The survey says, “Results
of this poll will be presented to Congress.” But
perhaps not, if current results hold up.
More than 800,000 people have weighed in,
and so far the association’s favorite position—“I
oppose legalization of homosexual marriage and
‘civil unions’ ”— has garnered only about 32 percent
of the vote. Nearly 60 percent “favor legalization of
homosexual marriage.” The vote in support of “civil
union with the full benefits of marriage except for
the name” is coming in at about 8 percent.
he Denver Post pressed Vice President Dick
Cheney on his views about same-sex mar
riage, and the constitutional amendment that
would ban it, in an interview published Jan. 9.
He reiterated the view he expressed during the
2000 campaign— that such relationships ought
to be legally recognized, that states were the
proper venue to make those decisions and that
they may choose varying approaches.
However, Cheney pledged political loyalty
to Bush with regard to federal aspects of mar
riage. “The president is going to have to make a
decision in terms of what administration policy
is on this particular provision, and I will support
whatever decision he makes.”
Cheney declined to discuss what advice he
has offered Bush on this or any other issue. His
daughter Mary is a lesbian in a long-term rela
tionship who also heads the vice presidential re-
election effort.
T
M
eanwhile, the Human Rights Campaign,
in partnership with other organizations,
has launched a $350,000 print and radio adver
tising campaign opposing the Federal Marriage
Amendment.
It quotes conservative opponents to the
amendment, such as former U.S. Rep. Bob Barr,
R-Ga.; former Sen. Alan Simpson, R-Wyo.; and
columnist George F. Will. And it closes with the
tag line “Real conservatives agree: Be conserva
tive with the Constitution— don’t amend it.”
The ad campaign urges U.S. citizens to con
tact their members of Congress expressing that
view, j n
B ob R oehr is a free-lance reporter based m
Washington, D .C .
A OPERATED
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