MA: Gay Marriage legal until at least 2008

On Wednesday, the Massachusetts legislature rejected a state constitutional amendment which would have placed gay marriage on the 2006 ballot and enacted a statewide civil unions statute.

The interesting aspect about the vote was that the same measure had previously passed 105-92 failed 39-157 this time. This is because opponents of same-sex marriage did not want to even allow same-sex couples the second class status of civil unions. In order to present a constitutional amendment it needs to pass two consecutive sessions of the state legislature sitting as a constitutional convention. By failing to pass the compromise amendment, opponents of equal marriage rights are hoping to end gay marriage in Massachusetts by getting 66, 000 voters to sign petitions, have 25% of the state legislature pass the measure in two consecutive sessions and thus vote on their constitutional marriage to enshrine heterosexual supremacist language in the state constitution in November 2008.

The summary is: gay marriages will be legal in Massachusetts until at least late 2008!