The Vote About Marriage Is Not Over

The following message was delivered today to its members
by Mass. Citizens for Marriage.

The politicians believe they have successfully ended the debate and the vote about marriage—but they are wrong.

You proved that point last week when over 500 of you swamped the State House on Wednesday.

The debate is just starting and the vote is yet to happen. We plan on seeing to that. This will cause the politicians to panic.

For the next week-and-a-half, we (the citizens) are going to set the terms of this debate.

The legislature has until the middle of next week to reverse its illegitimate action. This is no longer just a debate about marriage. This is now an uprising against a failed government. They violated the Constitution and then bragged about it. Their leader, Tommy Birmingham, dared to tell us that we've seen "democracy in action." We have known for a long time that our government is corrupt and unresponsive. Most of us have given up.

But this is not the time to quit! It is the time to act because everyone is on our side about our corrupt legislature.

This week, we will personally visit each politician who voted against democracy last Wednesday with a "survey" we have prepared. They will have a chance to vote again. It will take them only five minutes to vote again in the privacy of his or her office.

We've been told by many legislators that it was the union bosses from the state AFL-CIO and other special interests who threatened each legislator not to pass the Amendment. The legislators have foolishly, in their arrogance, publicly acknowledged that they did not want to vote on it because they knew the Amendment would pass. These legislators were terribly frightened because they did not know what to do. They did not want their constituents to know they were voting against this popular Amendment. What could they do in order to keep the political bosses happy without upsetting the voters?

That's why we witnessed the outrageous parody of a democracy that occurred on Beacon Hill last Wednesday, July 17. Our legislature broke the law and defeated the measure without allowing a vote on its merits. And then they dared to babble about "civil rights!"

This time their vote will be centered on the real issue in the debate about the Amendment: children, children, children. Up until now, the politicians and their friends have cleverly avoided allowing that debate to occur.

For example, whenever anyone has appeared anywhere on a television show in favor of the Amendment, the person on the other side has always, without fail, been a homosexual activist - even though this is not a debate about homosexuality.

Whenever the media have talked about the Amendment, they have always said that its purpose is to "ban gay marriage."

The media and the politicians have skillfully frightened everyone, including us, about the health "benefits" of those children who live with homosexuals. Our lawyers have prepared clear, detailed reports showing that no one will suffer. But no one in the media cares or reads the reports. They continue the same old lies.

However, every person understands that the purpose of marriage is not about "partners" and "benefits." It is about children and their need for a mother and a father. That is what the debate will be about for the next week-and-a-half.

We will challenge anyone to name a better or cheaper system of raising children than having their parents do it. It may not be perfect, but it beats anything else.

The vast majority of the politicians who voted to kill the Amendment will not want to debate. They are frightened to death by the powers that control them. They will want to continue hiding behind phony tricks.

But the voters are aroused.

We may not be successful in getting Tommy Birmingham and his union bosses to finally follow the law, but if they don't do so this week, they will be starting a seismic revolution in Massachusetts politics. If the politicians continue to treat the voters with such contempt as was displayed last week, it will have profound effects upon our entire political structure. We will help see to that. That was not our intention when we began. It has been thrust upon us by crooked politicians.

The vote that will occur as a result of our survey this week will be well publicized by us across the entire state for a long time to come. No legislator will be able to avoid being recorded on this vote.

We look forward to it with enthusiasm.

Massachusetts Citizens for Marriage, Every Child Deserves a Mother and a Father, 1277 Main St., Waltham 02451, 781-647-1942, www.marriagematters.org