A filibuster has ended the Convention and provided a momentary victory for the gay-marriage forces: three amendments . I’m not as optimistic as others (such as blogger Andrew Bayer) that ultimately we can keep an amendment off the ballot - the recess is only a month rather than a year, after all, and I doubt that legislators positions are going to change wildly in that time. But it does show that the anti-DOMA side has strength and will have to be reckoned with in any compromise amendment that’s proposed in March. I think Dan Kennedy gets it right with his summation “Safe for Now.”
House Speaker Finneran came out with an unbelievable response to the recess: “No one should expect that decisions of this magnitude would be made casually or quickly. Our efforts will continue.” This from the man who stole the gavel during his opening remarks and tried to force through a casual and quick anti-gay-marriage amendment! It’s odd to hear plaintive cries of “What about the people’s voice?” from legislators who spend their careers trying in every other fashion to circumvent the people’s input through procedural machinations and backroom dealings. Can anyone say “Clean Elections“?
Yesterday, the Phoenix’s David Bernstein had a great observation of anti-gay legsilator David Flynn: “Here’s a good rule of thumb: when somebody makes a point of saying that they aren’t prejudiced, they’re probably prejudiced. (This theme recurred throughout the debate).” Yes, indeed, and I’d add a few examples from the debate.
Maria Parente proclaimed she’s not “anti-color.”
Philip Travis (who proposed the first amendment): “All slaves, whether white or black, were counted as three/fifths.”
But maybe I should leave off with less reprehensible quote, from Rep. Christopher Fallon: “I feel frustrated by some of my colleagues who have criticized the SJC. Yes, it was a narrow vote. So are we going to start picking and choosing what judicial rulings we are go to uphold? That’s an affront to the Constitution.” A worthy reprimand, given the plans of Finneran and Gov. Romney to perform some uncivil disobedience by withholding marriage licenses. The anti-gay folks don’t care about democracy or the people’s voice, they just care about keeping gay men and women from marrying.
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