Needless to say, if you haven’t contacted your legislators — especially this group — to tell them to keep the status quo, to defend families, to prize equality, now is the time. The State House number is 617-722-2000. Be polite, be brief, be firm.
David Bernstein has an interesting article about the wheeling and dealing involved, and how some legislators who may be on the brink of switching their vote to “no” may not want to be known for it:
“The ones who want to switch want it to be the quietest switch in history,” says Moran. “They’ll say to MassEquality, “I don’t want you to recognize me, I don’t want you to do a mailing for me.”
And they especially don’t want to be known as the vote-switcher who changed the outcome. “None of them want to be the next John Slattery,” says Isaacson, referring to the former state representative from Peabody, whose 11th-hour reversal prevented passage of a death-penalty bill in 1997.
I don’t know … I think one would want to avoid being one of the 50 legislators — only 25%, folks — that put the Commonwealth through an agonizing and divisive ordeal, essentially inviting every far-right homo-hating group’s money and bodies to our fair state. Hey, Mitt may even come back. In other words, even if the Twenty-Five Percenters hold together, they lose. They’re going to be known one way or the other, and to my mind, it’s easier to hide among 150+ than among barely 50+.
The question remains: How do we make it useful to them to do the right thing? Do we promise public congratulations and thanks for a switched vote, or relative silence? Has that horse already left the barn?
In any event, I want to disabuse any lawmakers who still feel the folks pushing this issue are some marginal minority with no real power — “It’s just the gays”. Actually, there are many, many straight people who will go to the wall for their gay and lesbian friends, relatives and neighbors — right now by making a call; in a primary election; in a general election. We’re not marginal, we’re the mainstream. Yes, things have changed.
Click the MassEquality ad on the upper right to find out what you can do.
I should underline that folks living in Paul Donato’s district, which includes parts of Medford and Malden, might do well to call Rep. Paul Donato. Rep. Donato, even if he has voted the wrong way in the past, is very easy and friendly to speak with. So don’t expect that you’ll be speaking with a horrible grouch. You won’t.
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There are a zillion angles to take on this.
I just urged my Medford family and friends to contact his office this week by Wednesday and let him know where they stand. I hope he listens…
I also think it might help to gently remind him, more-in-sadness-than-in-anger, that he’s facing a primary challenger.
Yes let’s put this to rest this week and OFF the ballot. I agree with you – I don’t know who is advising those lawmakers but in my view that’s bad advice. This vote is historic enough that if they become one of the 50 they will forever be remembered for this vote – not the way I would ever want to be remembered. Let’s keep pushing!
I occasionally look at RedMassGroup to see what the GOP die hards are saying. Interesting to me has been the echoing silence there regarding the marriage amendment. I have only seen one diary on it, and that was written by a republican who is against the amendment. The diary has drawn all of one post in reply.
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I can only conclude that the vast majority of MA republicans really are unconcerned about the alleged attack on civil marriage that marriage equality supposedly represents. It might do for republican legislators to reflect on this reality. If you vote to forward the amendment, you are sticking your neck out into territory very few constituents will follow you into.
I think it’s also worthwhile when speaking to legislators who are conflicted to suggest that they simply withhold their votes. They don’t need to reverse themselves and vote “for” same-sex marriage. They can simply choose not to vote for this amendment and this process. Whatever legislators’ personal feelings about same-sex relationships, I would think that they would have to have some reservations about the effects on the state of a divisive ballot campaign. I would think they would have to acknowledge that allowing the use of the initiative amendment process to deny rights to a minority by majority vote is a disturbing precedent. What will the wing-nuts try next? What other groups do they hate and fear? Have we learned anything from the political movements of the 20th century – in the American South, in 30’s Germany, in South Africa – that unified their supporters around shared hatreds and prejudices? Don’t we look back at these movements with repugnance? There’s a great quote from Felix Frankfurter on the Moakley courthouse: “The responsibility of those who exercise power in a democratic government is not to reflect inflamed public feeling but to help form its understanding.”
Most legislators care about one thing: their next election.
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If they vote the wrong way on Thursday, they need to know they will be challenged come ’08.
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We need to get off our butts and make sure there are serious challenges against any person who votes the wrong way on Thursday. There is no place in the Massachusetts state legislature for card-carrying members of Team Homophobia.
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So, how do we get them to vote the right way? Make them know their cowardly positions will earn them an early retirement.
is a shot across the bow not only to him, but to all anti-marriage legislators. No one should expect a free pass on this.