E-Mail This Article to a Friend ANNALS OF LOGORRHEA The mouth that roared BY ADAM REILLY

Readers of the Phoenix will recognize state representative Philip Travis (D-Rehoboth) as the House’s leading anti-gay-marriage zealot. But Travis — who recently announced that he won’t be seeking re-election in 2006 — has also been one of the legislature’s most quotable members over his 20-plus years in office. Some of his comments have been pure vitriol, some have been coy, and some have had a Yogi Berra–esque sageness. Here are a few gems:

"I cannot believe that the people in Massachusetts are listening to this garbage that is being touted at this microphone. My God! What does this say to the young people?"

(Travis during the November 2005 debate on syringe legalization, which he unsuccessfully opposed.)

"This is just protecting mom and dad, ma and pa. What could be wrong with that?"

(Travis explaining his proposed amendment to ban gay marriages, which failed, to the Boston Globe in January 2004.)

"If I have to amend it to keep the essence together, that is within the latitude of my common sense."

(Travis in December 2003, voicing willingness to omit a civil-unions ban from his proposed amendment banning gay marriage.)

"When it comes to Tom Reilly, he’s been consistently wrong in most of his calls, and this is another one."

(Travis on the Democratic attorney general’s decision to block a petition to repeal stem-cell legislation in July 2005.)

"I called and was upset with the way they handled the situation. It was done in anger."

(Travis in December 1998 — when he was still chair of the House Committee on Banks and Banking — explaining a veiled threat he made when US Trust Company declined his request for a donation to the Wampanoag tribe. He was later fined by the state Ethics Commission.)

And my personal favorite:

"The other 49 are correct, and we are wrong."

(Travis in September 2005, on the legalization of gay marriage in Massachusetts.)

Hasta la vista, Phil. You may have been a gay-bashing conservative crank, but you made the State House a whole lot zestier. Don’t let the door hit you in the keister on your way out.