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Loading ...Mass A.G. OKs anti-gay ballot measure
08.25.2008 4:19pm EDT
(Boston, Massachusetts) Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley on Monday approved the wording of a ballot measure that would reinstate a law used to bar out-of-state same-sex couples from marrying in the Bay State.
Coakley said MassResistence had met the requirements to begin collecting the 33,000 valid signatures needed to put the issue to voters in 2010.Coakley went out of her way to say she does not necessarily support the reinstatement measure.
MassResistance filed the paperwork last week with Coakley’s office.
Same-sex couples have been free to marry in Massachusetts since 2004, but only if they were residents of the state.
Then-Gov. Mitt Romney (R) dusted off a 1913 law, that said marriage licenses could not be issued to couples whose weddings would not be recognized in the home states, and threatened to charge local clerks if they issued marriage licenses to out-of-state same-sex couples.
The old law was originally passed when interracial marriage was legal in Massachusetts but not in most other parts of the country.
When the US Supreme Court overturned state bans on interracial marriage the Massachusetts law fell into disuse.
Last month current Gov. Deval Patrick (D) signed legislation repealing the law.
MassResistance spokesperson Brian Camenker accused lawmakers and Patrick of bowing to the will of the “gay lobby” by approving the repeal of the 1913 law.
The repeal effort is considered unlikely to succeed. Patrick has a high approval rating and polls indicated most Massachusetts voters are comfortable with same-sex marriage.
An attempt to put a measure on the ballot to ban same-sex marriage altogether in the state failed to win support in the legislature last year.
Damn, they just cannot give up trying to interfere in the lives of others. Apparently their grandmother never told them to mind their own business and leave others alone to tend to their business. This is another attempt to interject their beliefs into the live of other citizens. Hopefully the good citizens of the state will realize this is an attempt to enforce “don’t do as I can do, just do as I SAY” which I do not believe was ever the intent of the founders of this nation. The pursuit of happiness is different for each person and should not be allowed to be determined by a group of pseudo-christian bigots.
It would be 2010 before the ballot measure could be put to voters. The citizens of Massachusetts are fair minded enough to see the real purpose in reinstating the 1913 law is to promote discrimination and hate.
So I think we (the LGBT community) should start signing our own petitions to repeal laws, ensure current laws are enforced and get new ones passed… Like every time a tax exempt institution is caught attempting to influence voters they loose their tax free status. It should me against the law for you to use your freedom of religion to infringe upon my freedom of religion…. Or homo bigots are not allowed to wear homo designed clothing, sing, hum or listen to homo created music, redecorate, watch, play or even think about softball or soccer… I’m sure we could really have fun with this … gotta go buy some pens for all the signing…
As someone said in a comment about the article on the AFA, “Money talks, bs walks.” If gay marriage is going to remain legal in the state why would the good people of California who voted not to outlaw such marriages now vote to cut off the revenue stream that flows from them? Ain’t gunna happen!
Gosh… this cult of Christianity is the worst. Everyones always up in arms over sh*t that dont affect them. I HOPE GOD, HIMSELF witnesses everyone who signs that and deals with them in HIS way!!!
I loathe these idiots, but I do love the idea of the “All Powerful Gay Lobby”. We rule!:-)
The best of all outcomes is for Massachusetts’ voters to vote against the measure. You can’t file a lawsuit against a law that never became. This really is a last ditch effort. A measure scheduled for vote in 2010 gives gay/lesbian groups plenty of time to make a positive case to the electorate. Also, one of the best ways to defeat this measure is to demonstrate that gay marriages bring in gay dollars.
The sad reality is that this one man is on a literal one man campaign now he still has to collect 33,ooo valid signatures before it can be placed on the ballot in 2010 - which is NOT a major election year and as a result here in MA the turn outs are horrible! Lastly, this law was written specifically to BAN INTER-RACIAL marriages since ONLY if those being married were going to move to another state where interracial marriages were illegal! MA was one of the few states wherein BLACKS were FREE! But being pressured by the states with the law banning inter racial marriages they were pretty much forced to write the law of 1913 - its the wording of the law that is the culprit “Any Marriage which would be Illegal in another state cannot be performed in MA if the intended planned to move to that state where they banned interracial marriage! This man Camenker is so nuts that even the right wing here repudiates his actions!!
Don’t worry CHAD. There is no God. That’s why they can get away with their crap.
And the folks of california didn’t ‘vote’ on allowing gay marriage. They voted against it. The supreme court of California found that Vote illegal and unconstitutional and it was repealed. And now we are facing the same damn hate mongers at the pole again this november.
We have commercials running on our tv channels from Equality California Institute with a tag line of:
“How would you feel if you couldn’t marry the one you love?”
I can only hope my fellow californians will do the right thing and NOT vote for hate again…
THEY ‘VE CROSSED THE LINE AGAIN ! TAX THE CHURCH !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Churches are a business and should pay taxes. They buy property, use utilities, add on to buildings, and take it a weekly income. The only thing different is they are selling an intangible product as well as the books and assorted related items. They also receive federal money for programs in which they are sanctioned be selective about whom they serve due to the intangible product. If I opened a pagan bookstore with an alter and classes it the back room, would I get a tax break?
YES I LIVE RIGHT HERE IN LA…AND THE COMMERCIALS IN SUPPORT OF OUR GAY MARRIAGE ARE RUNNING CONSTANTLY ON THE MAJOR NETWORKS. IM SO SURPRISED. EQ CA MUST HAVE COLLECETED A LOT OF MONEY..I MEAN ALL DURING THE OLYMPIC COVERAGE THIS GAY MARRIAGE COMMERCIAL WAS BEING RUN CONSTANTLY…AND STILL IS….. “HOW WOULD YOU FEEL IF YOU COULDN’T MARRY THE PERSON YOU LOVE?”
When are we going to be finished with this antigay marriage rubbish and nonsense in Masschusetts? Thought we’d seen the end of the tunnel on this stuff.
there are thousands of gay folk who are in total disagreement with RogerRamJet here. I know that thousands of gay folk are in disagreement with me. But there is a God, God lives in the hearts of men and women, For me, God gives me the strength do what I have to do to get through the day. God is in my hope for better things to come in my life. God can’t be seen, but God can be felt in my life, in my avoidance of bad choices, in the good I try to do for others in my everyday life. etc.
My gay-welcoming church does a world of good for many people. we feed the needy and the homeless, gay and straight couples attend, our organist is gay, our visiting preacher is gay, senior warden is gay. We provide employment to an autistic young man who otherwise might have no job, one of our parishioners adopted two Asian children a brother and sister from Cambodia years ago, we are a liberal leaning congregation that believes in social justice and in the end of poverty.
We fix the home and garden of a senior citizen who can’t do it every year, We take toys for kids and a variety of useful household items to a county facility for poor women raising their young kids (a place that teaches them job training, practical cooking, household and child rearing skills over a 2 year county fund program)
our people get out and clean the local stream, we sell Fair Trade organically grown coffee that gives a decent wage to farmers in Colombia etc who are growing it, we collect toys for poor kids each December, We give to Heifer Internatioal an organization the brings farm animals, good farming practices to villages in poor countries, help toward kids going to school, helps villagers with proudly maintaining their unique arts and crafts, etc.
We regular make bag lunches for an organization that hands them out to hungry people.
The local Episcopal church runs a kitchen to give out hot meals 7 days a week to the homeless and provides job and other counseling and a place for the homeless to bed down at night.
Our local bishop fights for gay rights.
We have a very diverse congregation of people of many backgrounds.
Our church doesn’t interfere in the lives of others, it enriches lives in many ways. We are not ever into politics. We merely exist as a nice place for straight and gay families and thier children to feel at home on Sunday mornings and we are “like a big family”.
God can’t be seen, but God is to be found and represented in the spirit, hearts and minds of those who those who bag the lunches, serve the hot meals, donate their food, clean the stream, volunteer to help a reading program for kids nearby, who bring a carload or two of things for poor women and their kids at the county’s shelter that is just for poor homeless women and their children each with her own apartment and kitchen learning job skills, cooking and child rearing.
God can not be seen, but is in the love and dedication of the people of our church and shows in these various and different ways.
Our church has various ministries and this one that does all of these things memtioned above is the one I serve on with several other very committed people. We discuss all of these programs and our interactions with and contributions to, so I know that these things are a fact. church’s involvement in them.
interesting, i’ll be back later