It's over. Dead. Give it up, VoteOnMarriage. Don't waste any more valuable pro-family activists' time, energy, money, and good will. You've been had. And you refused to see it coming, though you were warned.
We're not surprised that the Legislature recessed without voting on the VoteOnMarriage amendment today. The ConCon is set to reconvene on the last day of the session (Jan. 2, 2007), so there will be no way Gov. Romney could call the legislature back into session when they again fail to vote on the amendment that day! And Deval certainly wants it to die.
Shockingly, today we learned that there's not a single honorable, courageous legislator in Massachusetts. Item #19 on the calendar, the pure definition of marriage with a ban on civil unions (just before the weaker VoteOnMarriage amendment, #20) was voted down 196-0, just before the ConCon adjourned. Now what is wrong with #19? Our group filed it as a bill (H653), in an effort to strengthen the definition of marriage in our statutes. (Gov. Romney recommended this very course in his famous Wall Street Journal op-ed of February 2004!) The bill's co-sponsors were Rep. Goguen and Rep. Travis.
Well, who should rise to speak against #19 but Travis, who called it unconstitutional! He said it should not be debated. Did he forget he filed it -- after the Goodridge ruling? How hypocritical. He essentially recognized the ruling as legitimate in calling #19 unconstitutional. He believes that the the 8,000 (later he said 9,000) so-called same-sex "marriages" are legitimate and couldn't be disrupted (hence the weak and dangerous wording of the VoteOnMarriage amendment)!
Granted, homosexual activist Sen. Barrios turned #19 from a bill into an amendment. (Though he never said a thing about that in his slimey speech.) But it could never have passed today anyhow (needing 50%+), so the pro-family legislators could safely have voted for it -- but still didn't. Unbelievable.
Reps. Goguen, Loscocco, Parente, DeMacedo, Sens. Brown, Hedlund: What happened to all of you? What twisted strategy were you following? The wording of #19 is exactly the same as the marriage amendment you supported in 2002! So why the change? Not a single legislator in Massachusetts is "brave" enough to confirm marriage is between a man and a woman, and civil unions should be banned! And that the Goodridge ruling is illegitimate; and that current same-sex "marriages" are illegal and should not be protected!
Still awaiting the video of his press conference, but we understand that Gov. Romney said he's consulting with his attorneys on his options -- whether he can call the legislature back into session, etc. (You mean he didn't see this coming, and they haven't already figured that out?) We also heard that Romney said he "appreciated" that Senate President Travaglini followed the process today! Well, Trav had promised that each item would have a roll call vote. That obviously is not going to happen. Who does Romney think he's fooling?
