The Politics of Marriage

Yesterday Massachusett's House Speaker Sal DiMasi predicted that the proposed amendment against marriage equality will not pass when it comes to a vote at the constitutional convention in September. A number of reasons contribute to this prediction, including last year's election results, in which no supporters of marriage equality lost their seats, some of the anti-marriage incumbents lost, and some new supporters won. Then there's the proposed ballot initiative, which many marriage foes prefer since it does not establish civil unions as an alternative to marriage. Finally, there's the fact that same-sex couples have been getting married in the state for over a year now, and the sky has yet to fall. Some legislators have commented recently that they've changed their minds after seeing so many couples enter into marriage and create a more stable union, so to speak.

The whole machination of this amendment is mind-boggling, and has created strange alliances. The amendment is known as the Travaglini-Lees amendment, as it was fashioned by Senate President Robert Travaglini and Senate minority leader Brian Lees. The amendment bars same sex marriage but authorizes civil unions. This particular amendment passed largely due to the votes of many marriage equality supporters who voted for this amendment rather than have an even more restrictive one pass, which would not recognize civil unions (similar to the ballot initiative currently being reviewed by the Attorney General). The general thinking at the time it passed was that it probably wouldn't pass a second time around, since no one really likes it. People who support marriage equality don't like it because it would take away the marriage right, while those who don't support marriage equality don't like it because they in general also don't support civil unions or any other form of recognition of gay relationships.

Sure enough, now that this ballot initiative has been introduced, many of the legislative supporters of the Travaglini amendment have expressed their intent to abandon ship, to give their support to the more hard line citizen's petition.

But not so fast! The ballot initiative hasn't yet been given the yay or nay by Attorney General Tom Reilly. The deadline for decision is a week before the constitutional convention. This thing's a mixed bag. On the one hand, many are urging him to reject it as unconstitutional (see yesterday's post). And it would be good not to have this backwards-moving potential amendment floating around, just biding its time before going to the ballot to have the electorate vote on whether to discriminate against a minority portion of the population. On the other hand, if Reilly rejects it, many of the legislative supporters of the initiative have stated they'll likely support the amendment, as it's the only thing they'll have left. Representative Philip Travis (an ardent foe of marriage for same sex couples) went so far as to say, "[It] will have to be supported, because there will be nothing to protect marriage." From where I sit, the only marriages being threatened are ones like mine, and he's one of the threats.

So I guess the moral is this - don't be comforted by Speaker DiMasi's predictions. Get out there in the next few weeks and make your voices heard by your representatives. And be sure your voice is a voice of reason, justice and equality. Let the other side take the role of shrill, angry, unreasonable, hostile and illogical protest. Let them be dismissed, not us.

Marriage: Aruba v. Holland

Aruba's Superior Court has ordered that the government must register and recognize the Dutch marriage certificate of lesbian couple Charlene and Esther Oduber-Lamers. Charlene is a citizen of Holland, while Esther is a citizen of Aruba. Both countries are autonomous republics but part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (along with the Dutch Antilles). All members of the Kingdom must recognize each other's legal documents, but Aruba is refusing to do so, stating that it would violate Aruba's civil code and morals.

Aruba's government plans its final appeal (this decision was after appeal from a similar decision at the lower court), which is to the Supreme Court of Holland. Meanwhile, the couple has relocated to Holland after being harrassed for trying to register their marriage. Also, Aruba's immigration laws only allow Esther to remain on the island for 6-months per year, and do not allow her to receive health benefits from Charlene's government employer, without their marriage being recognized. She would also likely not be allowed custody of her 2-year-old biological child, who was born to Esther from an egg harvested from Charlene (see this post for related story in California).