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Heroes and villains
BY DAVID S. BERNSTEIN
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Over the past week, the Phoenix has been keeping track of who’s been naughty and who’s been nice in response to the SJC’s ruling that same-sex couples should be allowed to wed. Here’s our tally — with a bonus section on whom to watch over the next six months. Heroes Bucking the trend of relying on religious reasoning to deny same-sex couples the right to wed, Episcopalian bishops Thomas Shaw, Bud Cederholm, and Gayle Harris released a statement calling the SJC ruling a "crucial step toward guaranteeing for same-sex couples the rights and privileges otherwise denied them." Nancy S. Taylor of the Massachusetts conference of the United Church of Christ and William G. Sinkford, president of the locally based Unitarian Universalist Association, were also particularly vocal in their praise of the ruling. Cambridge city councilors Brian Murphy and Denise Simmons announced plans to vote for handing out same-sex marriage licenses immediately. City Clerk Margaret Drury bravely said that if the councilors give the word, she would push the paperwork. Ultimately Murphy and Simmons decided to back off from their plan, but you can’t fault their enthusiasm. Kudos to Richard Van Nostrand, president of the Massachusetts Bar Association, who immediately and very publicly squashed the notion that a civil-union law might satisfy the conditions set by the ruling. But the biggest heroes of all turned out to be Massachusetts citizens, who declared themselves, in separate polls released Sunday in the Boston Globe and Boston Herald, to be in support of the SJC decision and opposed to a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. Villains Even if Attorney General Thomas Reilly really believes that the legislature can find room to wriggle out of granting marriage licenses to same-sex couples, he had no obligation to say they should. And Reilly, a long-time proponent of civil rights for African Americans, should know better than to say that the judicial branch is an inappropriate venue for "profound social changes" (see "Editorial," page 4). State Representative Philip Travis, who is the sponsor of House Bill 3190, which would amend the state constitution to ban marriages of same-sex couples, declared Tuesday afternoon that Massachusetts will never grant marriage licenses to gay couples, insisting that the courts can’t make city and town clerks issue the licenses. This surely deserved a response from the Massachusetts Town Clerks Association, but none has come from its president, Linda Hutchenrider, or from State Registrar Stanley Nyberg, who instead issued a memo to clerks warning them against issuing licenses before next May. The Black Ministerial Alliance — and particularly its chair, Ray Hammond — has been distressingly vocal in opposition to same-sex marriage for some time. Hammond stayed out of the fray last week, instead sending Ron Richardson to a press conference Tuesday to denounce the ruling in the BMA’s name. Metropolitan Methodios, head of the Boston Greek Orthodox Church, condemned the ruling, and his head of ecumenical relations, John Maheras, called for the faithful to use "whatever course of action is necessary" to block gay marriage from happening. Roman Catholic archbishop of Boston Sean O’Malley made clear in his harsh reaction — calling the ruling "alarming" and asking legislators to undo it "for the good of society" — that nothing has changed on this issue with the changing of the guard. Special mention, though, must be made of what Claire Mentus, president of the Massachusetts Justices of the Peace Association, did last week. Anticipating that some JPs may not wish to perform ceremonies for same-sex couples, Mentus and her executive board are looking for ways to let JPs, who are legally obligated to perform wedding ceremonies for licensed couples ... refuse to perform such weddings. "I cannot make somebody do something if they don’t want to do it," Mentus says. She is seeking guidelines from the attorney general, and plans to present options to her members for a vote in January, including changing the bylaws. Keep an eye on Next April the Hynes Convention Center hosts the 7000-attendee gathering of the National Catholic Educational Association. This will be the first large organization facing pressure to boycott the state over its gay-marriage plans. NCEA convention and expo director Sue Arvo says she has not yet heard concerns from her board members, but you can be sure that gay-marriage opponents will try this tactic — just as civil-rights advocates did to push states like Arizona to finally adopt a Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. Local businesses need help to find out what they can, must, or should do once gay marriage happens. For example: John Hancock has already suggested that it might drop benefits for unmarried same-sex partners once those couples have the option of marriage. So far, Boston Chamber of Commerce head Paul Guzzi is keeping a low profile, and a spokesperson says that "it’s really not something the chamber has been focused on." Keep an eye on Guzzi and large, influential Bay State employers like the local hospitals and universities, Mass Mutual, Fidelity, Raytheon, Fleet, State Street, and Liberty Mutual.
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