Mass. polititians rally around gay marriage

Mass. Politicos Unite Behind Equality

Monday, January 5th 2004

BOSTON -- Former political heavyweights from Massachusetts, including former Gov. William Weld, have urged state lawmakers to abide by the Supreme Judicial Court's landmark ruling calling for full equality in the state's marriage laws.

In a letter delivered to all 200 legislators on Monday, former Democratic Gov. Weld and former attorneys general Scott Harshbarger and James Shannon, also Democrats, declared that an alternative proposal to allow civil unions in Massachusetts would have no legal justification.

"We see the SJC's ruling as unequivocal: The existing ban on marriage for gay people is unconstitutional," reads the letter obtained by the Boston Globe and attributed mainly to Harvard constitutional scholar Laurence Tribe.

"We urge each of you as members of a coordinate branch of government sworn to uphold the constitution, and the rule of law, to use the remainder of the time period in the court's stay to take any and all steps possible to facilitate the orderly issuance of marriage licenses to qualified same-sex couples."

There is deep division among legislators over how to proceed. The state Senate has asked the court for an advisory opinion on whether a bill that would estabish civil unions for gay couples, while reserving marriage for heterosexual couples, would conform with the ruling.

Next month, both the House and Senate will meet to consider a proposed constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex marriage, but even at full speed, the amendment would take years to enact.

In an interview with the Globe, Tribe said the letter is intended to spur lawmakers into compliance with the ruling. "The clock is running," Tribe said. "After that period, lawful marriage licenses can be given to same-sex couples, and it would be unlawful to deny them that. But there are hundreds of laws on the books that refer to husbands and wives that are not consistent with what the court has done."

Weld and the others have been critical of Republican Governor Mitt Romney and Attorney General Thomas Reilly who have clouded the issue by suggesting the court could be satisfied with an alternative civil unions bill. Tribe says there is no justification for such a point of view.

"The Massachusetts Constitution affirms the dignity and equality of all individuals. It forbids the creation of second-class citizens," Tribe said, quoting the landmark decision. As to the letter, he said, "We have included key quotations, but they are not selective quotations. There is not a word in the ruling that would allow for civil unions being OK."

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