BY DAN
KENNEDY
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Wednesday, February 11, 2004
Finneran to the rescue? It
looks like the best hope for gay activists and all supporters of
marriage equality is House Speaker Tom Finneran. Really.
Senate president Bob Travaglini and
Senate minority leader Brian Lees have crafted a compromise amendment
to the state constitution that would ban same-sex marriage, but would
guarantee the right of civil unions. It is reasonable and
well-intentioned, but would perpetuate the inequality that the
Supreme Judicial Court so eloquently denounced in its
Goodridge decision last fall. (Boston Globe coverage
here;
the Boston Herald's website seems to be messed up this
morning.)
Because Finneran doesn't like the
civil-unions provision, he may try to scuttle it, leaving an
amendment that would be far harsher, and thus less likely to pass
muster with a majority of the 199 legislators who will meet at
today's constitutional convention. And remember: Finneran controls
160 of them, as compared to just 39 for Travaglini. (Ironically,
Travaglini is short a member because Cheryl Jacques resigned to
become head of the Human Rights Campaign, a gay-and-lesbian-rights
lobbying group.)
The constitutional convention will
take place after the deadline for this week's Boston Phoenix.
But Phoenicians will be swarming around Beacon Hill all day (and
night) today to put together an in-depth report for BostonPhoenix.com,
which will appear tomorrow. There may even be some updates posted
today. So keep checking in.
posted at 9:28 AM |
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MEDIA LOG ARCHIVES
Dan Kennedy is senior writer and media critic for the Boston Phoenix.
