Legislators Deliver Blow to Equal Marriage in Massachusetts

Some of the banners in front of the Massachusetts State House: 'Jesus is Lord', 'Let the People Vote'

UUs hold a banner reminding everyone that 'Unitarian Universalists Stand on the Side of Love'

UUA staff members Rev. Beth Williams and Rev. David Pettee

Photos by Erika Nonken/UUA.

(Boston, January 2, 2007) The right of same-sex couples to marry, an important issue to many Unitarian Universalists, suffered a setback on January 2 as a joint session of the Massachusetts State Legislature took the first step toward placing the issue on the 2008 ballot.

The issue is far from settled and requires a similar vote by the joint Legislature (known as a Constitutional Convention) sometime later this year in order for the question to appear in 2008. But the petition's passage marked the first significant setback for same-sex marriage rights in the Bay State since the state's Supreme Judicial Court ruled the marriages had to be recognized nearly four years ago.

The political landscape has changed since 2003, and most legislators currently support same-sex marriage rights. However, Massachusetts state law allows a binding referendum question—even one to amend the state's constitution—to be placed on a statewide ballot if petitioners can meet certain thresholds. Those include gathering signatures from registered voters, and winning just twenty-five percent of the Constitutional Convention's votes in two successive years.

On January 2, as politicians scrambled to count votes and make last-minute deals, many Unitarian Universalists—local congregation members, Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) staff, even President William Sinkford—joined the ranks of marriage equality supporters to urge the Legislature to adjourn without voting on the petition.

Crowds of marriage equality supporters waved signs, banged on drums and chanted "Gay, straight, black, white, we don't vote on civil rights" as reporters and photographers tried to capture the momentousness of the occasion.

"For those of us who have been standing here in front of the State House, it seems like every six months, we're weary that we have to fight this same battle over and over again," said Reverend David Pettee, the UUA's Ministerial Credentialing Director.

Pettee observed that the crowd yesterday seemed significantly smaller than those of the past, a development he finds concerning, especially in light of the Legislature's recent vote. "I think too many people have been lulled into believing that marriage equality is safe in Massachusetts," Pettee said. "Once again, I am reminded that that the price of liberty is eternal vigilance."

Jennifer Strong, a lifelong UU who belongs to the Me lrose Unitarian Universalist Church, stopped by the State House on her lunch break at work, though she said she's taken time off from work to attend previous rallies and vigils.

"I wasn't raised to think of homosexuals as wrong. I have several friends who are gay and lesbian, and I don't think it's fair that I can have the right to get married and they can't," Strong said.

Greg Hyde, a UU member from First Parish in nearby Framingham, held a sign that read, "Start Acting like Christians."

"I try to use the term 'Christian,' although that term has been usurped recently. As a Unitarian Universalist, this issue has pretty much been settled. I view this as more of a civil rights issue than a religious one," he said. "If democracy is going to survive, the Constitution has to protect minorities' rights."

Speaking to local television media, Rev. Sinkford also framed the debate as a civil rights issue. "If school desegregation had been submitted to a popular vote in 1954 when Brown v. Board of Education was decided, then I would have attended segregated schools all my life," Sinkford told WCVB-TV reporters.

Seeking to change the state's constitution by putting to a popular vote an amendment to formally define marriage as an exclusively heterosexual institution, opponents of same-sex marriage gathered a reported 170,000 signatures in 2005, and won sixty-two of the 2006 Constitutional Convention's votes on Jan. 2 (thirty-two percent). If opponents are successful at winning at least twenty-five percent of the vote at the 2007 Constitutional Convention, which convenes later this year, the question would appear on the 2008 ballot.

In the meantime, Pettee hoped more UUs would choose to re-engage themselves in this struggle, by speaking with their representatives, writing letters to the editor of their local newspapers, and supporting advocacy organizations.

"You can't take marriage equality for granted. There's too much work to be done," Pettee said. "The will and commitment of those who don't support marriage equality is strong and well supported. This setback is a clarion call to marriage equality supporters to step up our efforts, and not imagine other people are going to do it for us."

Freedom to Marry, for All People

Unitarian Universalist Association
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