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Loading ...Anti-gay marriage group won’t support ballot measure to reinstate out-of state ban
08.27.2008 2:11pm EDT
(Boston, Massachusetts) The largest conservative group behind a failed attempt to pass a constitutional amendment limiting marriage in Massachusetts to opposite-sex couples said Wednesday it will not support a move to reinstate a ban on out-of-state couples marrying in the Bay State.
“There is no winning on this issue,” the Massachusetts Family Institute said.In a statement the institute acknowledged that before the proposed ban could get to voters in 2010, thousands of marriages of out-of-state gay and lesbian couples will have taken place.
Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley on Monday approved the wording of the ballot measure to reinstate the law used to bar out-of-state same-sex couples from coming to Massachusetts to marry.
Coakley said MassResistence had met the requirements to begin collecting the 33,000 valid signatures needed to put the issue to voters in 2010.
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.
After the state’s highest court ruled that laws barring same-sex marriage were unconstitutional the Massachusetts Family Institute had been at the forefront of attempts to get a constitutional amendment before voters.
The group, part of a conservative umbrella organization fighting for a blanket ban on gay marriage, collected enough signatures to have the issue put to voters but twice the legislature blocked it from going on the ballot.
That the institute now is throwing in the towel is seen as an indication Massachusetts voters are comfortable with same-sex unions.
If I were part of the religious groups that opposed gay marriage, I would be drastically searching for a way of weasel wording a softening of their position. Or else, they will get their due, which is what they really fear – that their hypocrisy will be seen by all. They will end up preaching to the dust in the pews and the dust of their departed.
Of course, they’ll probably find a new group upon which to focus their hatred. It seems to be Trans people. And the Jews will be next., all over again.
And lets not forget that the hypocrites of the catholic church hierarchy say that gays should be “treated with dignity and respect”, and in the next breath call gays “inherently disordered”. In effect, that is calling gay people crazy, and in our society full of ignorantis, is a license to bully, and worse. If anyone is inherently disordered, it is those who use the Name of God to justify hatred against minorities..
Kris Mineau – amusing how you self-servingly misconstrue the role of the juidicary. Their role, as you should know, is not to coddle the “will of the people” but to interpret the law as it has been laid out. If the people want to change the law, then there are ways to do that. Your statements are not only irrational, that are outright ignorant. You can rationalize your ignorance as much as you want, but it won’t change the truth. Gay marriage will occur in this country because history has shown that when people are educated (not ignorant) about the REAL facts (not the propaganda you spew), they, in time, do make the right choice.
No intelligent, educated person has yet to offer a convincing argument against the LGBTIQ community’s civil right to marry the person they love. Unfortunately, this issue needs to be addressed by the Supreme Court and NOT each individual state, so myself and others will be withholding federal taxes until we get our day in court. GAY TAX PROTEST
While we’re at it, I second the plug for the Southern Poverty Law Center. I’ve been donating to them since the early nineties, and they do an amazing job at researching and exposing hate groups in this country. It’s particularly enlightening when they publish all of the interconnections between the various groups (for example, that leaders in anti-gay efforts are involved in anti-immigration efforts and in anti-Jewish efforts and in anti-African-American efforts and so on). There’s often no “formal” tie-in between the groups (sometimes there is), but the same cast of characters pop up from group to group, illustrating how hate and scapegoating are equal opportunity.
I recommend looking into their organization and supporting them, if you can. They’re quality. (Plus, you get updates that include pictures of beefy, tattooed skin heads…WOOF! I know, I know…I’m twisted.
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MFI is not participating in a referendum fight to ban out-of-state same-sex couples from marrying in MA because there is no doubt it would be quickly overturned by the legislature—following on the legislature’s bent on ignoring the will of the people on issues from tax rollbacks to same-sex marriage. MFI in not “throwing in the towel” as your articles suggests. Not every political tactic is practical or the best use of time and resources. This one in particular connotes a fool’s errand. MFI remains fully committed to giving the people back their voice on the definition of marriage in Massachusetts precisely because citizens are not “comfortable” – as you implied – with same-sex unions having been established without their vote.
Well, cheers to the Southern Poverty Law Center for calling it the way it REALLY is!
You should also note that MassResistance, the group that is trying to get signatures for the ballot, was named a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center along with the KKK and the Neo Nazis.