The final vote was just taken, 105 for to 92 against. The constitutional amendment passes. It’s disheartening that a majority of legislators have voted to take away marriage rights from gay men and women in the Massachusetts. Gov. Romney is now holding a live press conference amd is using the amendment as an excuse to press the Supreme Court to block marriages come May. It’s a slimy performance, pretending that he’s genuinely seeking to avoid “confusion” rather than to avoid gay marriages period.
If there is a silver lining in this though, it lies in the civil union provisions. We can take heart in the fact that the amendment won’t have a built-in money raising constituency, as the Family Center forces would be hesistant (so the theory goes) to fund an amendment establishing civil unions. Then again, it’s going to be that or nothing.
Civil unions themselves are a victory of sorts, too, of course. As a friend of mine put it, “I don’t want to be happy accepting table scraps, but I guess it’s more than I expected a year ago.” It’s more than I expected a year ago, too.
But a year has changed a lot. We grew up and came of age knowing that we weren’t equal citizens or equal participants in the public realm. Now that we know that equality is in reach and not something for some distant, unspecified future, we will fight for it now and for the next two years. People can dismiss “gay activists” or “extremists” all they like, but they are underestimating the transformation of political consciousness of gays and lesbians in the Commonwealth.
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