Traditional Marriage Defenders Hold Out Hope in Massachusetts
by Bill Fancher
February 18, 2004
(AgapePress) - Having failed last week to find the votes to pass a constitutional amendment that would protect traditional marriage from being redefined to include homosexual couples, the Massachusetts legislature will resume debate on March 11, and pro-amendment lawmakers will again try to offset the court-ordered legalization of same-sex marriage, slated to take effect May 17
Ron Crews of the Massachusetts Family Institute says the next three weeks will be a busy time in the Bay State. He says the next steps for those lawmakers fighting to defend marriage would be to "evaluate the vote that we did get on the Travis amendment and then also on the Finneran amendment the first night, and look at those legislators who we thought were with us and wound up not being with us, and contact their constituents and let them know how they voted."
Crews is remaining optimistic that pro-family organizations can bring enough pressure on the legislative members to get the amendment passed in March. "We're still hopeful that we're going to be able to send an amendment to the voters to protect and defend marriage in this state and further work with the legislature and the governor's office to delay the implementation of the [Supreme Judicial Court's] decision," the pro-family activist says, adding, "We haven't given up hope."Four members of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled last fall that the law banning same-sex marriage in the state was unconstitutional and must be removed from the books by May 17. However, pro-family activists are promising they will keep up the pressure on Massachusetts lawmakers to defend marriage as the union of one man and one woman.
Targeting SJC's Activist Judges
One of the most vocal opponents of homosexual marriage is Laurie Letourneau of the organization Mass Voices for Traditional Marriage. She says she will keep after members of the state's House of Representatives to support marriage as it has been known for more than 4,000 years; but at the same time, she has set her sights on the four SJC justices who started this debate by ruling that homosexual marriage should be legal in the Bay State.
"I plan on asking for a recall of those judges through the bill of address," Letourneau says, "having our legislators go after them for usurping the power of the people to vote on this issue."
The Mass Voices spokeswoman says it is not right that four judges who were not elected to their positions can overturn an institution established by God thousands of years ago. The bill of address that she plans to pursue is a legislative process allowing state lawmakers to vote on the removal of a judge from the bench.
