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BOSTON, January 27, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) – In an effort to overturn the November 18 Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court’s ruling demanding legalization of same-sex marriage, 2000 supporters of the traditional definition of marriage rallied in Fall River, Worcester, and Springfield. The rallies come as a deadline approaches for debate in the Legislature which occurs February 11, the last opportunity before the ruling is set to come into effect in May. 

At St. Peter-Marian Central Catholic High School in Worcester, Bishop Daniel Patrick Reilly addressed the nearly 900 gathered in the gymnasium, calling the November Supreme Judicial Court decision “a terrible, terrible challenge for our society. We look upon marriage as a good institution, as a relationship and union between one man and one woman,” he continued. Bishop Reilly urged the faithful in attendance to “protect and support the institution of marriage” by opposing the new ruling. 

At Fall River, Bishop Connolly High School had 750 in attendance, as religious leaders and lawmakers addressed the issue, including Democratic State Representative Philip Travis. Travis has filed a bill to change the Constitution to outlaw same-sex “marriage.” He told those assembled that the same-sex marriage issue is the most important one that he will vote on in his 22 years in the Legislature, and said that “This is equivalent to Roe v. Wade. We run our government by a Legislature and a governor who pass laws, not a state judiciary, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, who make laws from the bench,” he said. 

On November 18, in a 4-3 split decision, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, the highest state court, ruled that denial of marriage to homosexual persons violates the state’s constitution. It gave the legislature 180 days to alter its legislation to reflect the court’s decision.

Read the LifeSiteNews.com report: 

Poll Reveals More than Two-thirds of Massachusetts Voters Want Vote on Marriage