BY DAN
KENNEDY
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Wednesday, February 04, 2004
Clear language, vague pols.
Anyone who took the time to read the relevant parts of the
Supreme Judicial Court's Goodridge decision knew that the
notion that it was "vague" - as this
AP story puts it - was
ridiculous. The decision couldn't have been any clearer that marriage
was the only way to give gay and lesbian couples the same
"protections, benefits and obligations" as married heterosexual couples.
The "vague" line was put out by politicians such as Attorney General
Tom Reilly, who oppose gay marriage but who also have (had?) some
support in the gay and lesbian community. Such straddling is no
longer possible.
Read this
letter from Reilly's two
predecessors, Scott Harshbarger and James Shannon, former governor
William Weld, Harvard Law School professor Laurence Tribe, and Boston
Bar Association president Ren Landers and you'll see what I
mean.
Still, today's advisory
opinion casting aside the
civil-unions alternative is just a little bit surprising. The courts
follow public opinion just like the rest of us. And with the
right-wingers gearing up for a state constitutional amendment to ban
same-sex marriage, it seemed that there was at least a possibility
that one of the justices would change his or her mind in the cause of
pragmatism. Such is not the case. Which means that a monumental
battle is about to unfold.
Next up: the constitutional
convention, a joint session of the legislature scheduled to be held
next Wednesday. If the amendment passes by a simple majority, and
then makes it through the following session of the legislature as
well, then it will go on the ballot in 2006. I wouldn't be surprised
if Senate president Robert Travaglini, who saw his hope of a
civil-unions compromise go down the drain today, decides to postpone
it. After all, he presumably wouldn't want to move ahead unless he
knows what's going to happen. And, right now, everything is
scrambled.
posted at 1:07 PM |
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Dan Kennedy is senior writer and media critic for the Boston Phoenix.
