Massachusetts: gay marriage alert!

[cos]

There are a bunch of scary anti-gay marriage bills being considered, including one that would cancel all the marriages of same-sex couples already performed, and another that would remove the judges who voted for it. There are also a few good bills, like one that would repeal the 1913 law that makes it harder for out of state couples to get married in MA. The public hearing on all of these bills is tomorrow afternoon!

I posted the details here. If you're near Boston and care about this, please read that post and go to the hearing if you can. (I will unfortunately have to miss it, I'm in western MA and have a meetup to run in Amherst tomorrow evening)

Comments

[hermesbrain.livejournal.com]

It seems to me that it would be most prudent to direct efforts against the consitutional amendment, primarily.

The other bills, while objectionable, probably lack the teeth of constitutionality (Or at least provide a much greyer area).

I'd think that a blanket impeachment of judges who supported the initial ruling would cause some serious constitutional concerns, as would canceling gay marriages already performed -- on the other hand, a constitutional amendment would be a serious problem.

The other bills look like a smokescreen -- and provide a useful way to draw the attention of opposing activists away from what really matters -- the amendment (which is the only thing that appears to me to be a potentially big deal).

I'd hate to see the amendment become law because of a divided opposition fighting all of the battles, instead of focusing resources on the most critical, and spilling over what's optional...

[cos]

That's not a consideration here. There's one hearing on all of these bills. If you go to the hearing, wear a MassEquality sticker, and show support for equal marriage, you're letting the committee know you oppose all of the anti-gay bills. If you sign up and get to testify, you can testify in general, or specifically, on as many bills as you want. Overall, the hearing will probably be an almost clean split between the pro-gay and anti-gay supporters and testimony. There's no need to decide which bills to concentrate on.

I agree with you that the impeachment bill is very unlikely to pass. And that the new amendment is the most serious threat.

I think the fate of the 1913 law is uncertain and I'd like some people to testify and make some good arguments about why we should get rid of it.