'Gay Advocates Go On Offensive
in Legislature'
Marriage Amendment Had Kept Them on Defense

MassNews Staff
February 2003 Print Edition

"Gay Advocates Go on Offensive in Legislature," appeared as a headline in a December issue of Bay Windows.

The homosexual newspaper reported that gay activists spent "much of this year beating back the anti-gay 'Protection of Marriage' ballot initiative," but now that that's over, they are "going on the offensive."

"These people obviously believed at the beginning of December that they had won and were now free to push their own agenda," says Sarah McVay Pawlick, President of Mass. Citizens for Marriage.

"But that was before the SJC advised the Governor on Dec. 20, which shocked them to their boots. We have to wonder what they think now."

The gay activists were also greatly encouraged because some supporters of marriage have given up and introduced their own bills in the Legislature for a "soft" Marriage Amendment which does not even mention domestic partnerships.

"This legislation for a 'soft' Amendment is an open invitation to gay advocates," says Pawlick. "Its message is that Massachusetts will permit civil unions such as they have in Vermont. So, of course they are excited. But the vast majority of Mass. citizens do not agree with that. We still have not heard the final word from the SJC on our lawsuit which was filed on Jan. 2 and we will continue to fight for marriage no matter what the SJC does. We are not going away. The gay activists know that by this time. We have earned their respect."

The homosexual activists filed two civil union bills and a gay marriage bill in December 2002, according to Bay Windows which quoted Josh Friedes, volunteer political coordinator for the Massachusetts Freedom to Marry Coalition, as saying:

"We've been playing defense for an awful long time [since the Protection of Marriage Amendment was introduced]. Now for the first time we're going out and talking about moving forward."

But Pawlick points out that the only way the homosexual activists were able to convince themselves that they had "won," was by breaking the law and violating the rules of the state Constitution. "No one knows if they did 'win' because we haven't heard the final word from the SJC yet. But this is not the time for our side to give up and try to compromise us into a clone of Vermont. That is not what the people of the state tell us they want."

The Legislators who are working with the gay activists are the following.
• Sen. Robert Havern (D-Cambridge) is the lead sponsor of a civil union bill.
• Rep. Alice Wolf (D-Cambridge) is the lead sponsor in the House.
• Rep. Byron Rushing (D-Boston) is the lead sponsor of the gay marriage bill, along with Rep. Wolfe and openly gay Rep. Liz Malia (D-Jamaica Plain).
• Sen. Cheryl Jacques (D-Needham) and Sen. Jarrett Barrios (D-Cambridge) sponsored a civil union bill because they did not know that Havern had also done so. Both Jacques and Barrios are openly homosexual.
• Rep. Paul Demakis (D-Boston) and Rep. Malia are sponsoring a domestic partner bill.

This is a total of seven Legislators, all of whom are Democrats from Boston and Cambridge, plus Cheryl Jacques. Three of the seven are open homosexuals. Rep. Wolf talked about "a good solid number" of Legislators who support her civil union bill but she told Bay Windows she could not provide an exact number.