BOSTON, February 13, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Lawmakers came to a mandatory midnight halt to their same-sex marriage debate without a vote yesterday. The move is being labelled by Representative Democrat Philip Travis, original sponsor of the same-sex marriage ban, as a “filibuster”. Travis said that “We should never have politics like that in this state. They’re called filibusters. They do them in Washington. We don’t do them in Boston. This is a new step in the recorded history of Massachusetts. It’s bad government.”
Travis’ statement refers to the homosexual-rights supporters’ use of delay tactics to kill time and foil any attempt at a vote. The adjournment came after 17 hours of debate over two days, during which three attempts made to ban same-sex marriage were voted down. In a fourth attempt, debate over a compromise - a civil-union amendment similar to the one in Vermont - was halted at the Legislature’s mandated midnight adjournment.
David Flynn, a Democrat representative, described how the debate has affected him personally, as he was now estranged from a family member because of his decision to vote to ban same-sex marriage. “I lost a member of my family last night because of my vote,” he said. He expressed his regret at the loss, saying “And I say to that member of the family, ‘I love you, I want you back in the family, but you must understand that I took the oath of this office ... and I’ve always sworn to the rest of you to what you and I think is right, regardless of party, regardless of politics, regardless of religion and regardless of family.”
Without an amendment to the constitution, marriage laws will be re-written to include same-sex couples by mid-May, as mandated by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court last November. If the constitutional amendment passes the vote, it still must go to a ballot at the November 2006 elections.
See yesterday’s LifeSiteNews.com coverage of the debate at: http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2004/feb/04021204.html