It’s been three years of same-sex marriage in Massachusetts. Congrats to all those couples who have gotten married since then.
I was at Cambridge City Hall at midnight on May 17, 2004 — it was pretty much a circus. Marriage itself, of course, is not. It’s intended to stabilize life by strengthening people’s bonds to each other. So no one should be surprised that chaos has not exactly engulfed Massachusetts.
Now it’s time to lean on the legislators — I heard on ‘BUR this morning that we’re only 3-4 legislators away. That’s amazing, and hopefully within reach. And there’s time to lick a stamp — they’ll notice a real letter.
Update: As usual, ‘BUR pretty much just reads the Globe: Yeah, it’s down to three or four votes, says Frank Phillips. As we knew, all the big-time Dems are leaning on some holdout legislators to put this issue to bed, finally. And check out this reaction:
One target of lobbying — Representative Paul Kujawski, a Democrat from Webster who voted for the amendment in January — said that he is facing pressure from both sides. “I am listening to every body,” said Kujawski, who represents a socially conservative district. “But if the vote were tomorrow, my vote would still be the same.”
Well, that’s not exactly a definite “no, and go away”, is it?
You know, at this point I seriously doubt that most legislators would be in serious trouble over allowing same-sex marriage to continue. It’s just too easy to shrug and say, “Well, there isn’t blood in the streets, is there?” I know the issue still generates heat (and phone calls and letters and blog posts) … but I feel it winding down. There’s a sense of inevitability.
What do you think?
It’s what President Bush has called for all along – couples uniting in marriage and taking on a shared responsibility for their families. The Globe reports today that since the bar to marriage was lifted 3 years ago, 9,695 couples have been married who otherwise couldn’t have been able to. Congratulations to them and the 104,664 different-sex couples who have joined them in that time frame in strengthening families through civil marriage!