Thursday, June 20, 2002

A story published today by the Boston Globe reports that Massachusetts state senate president Thomas F. Birmingham yesterday refused to allow a vote on a ballot question that would restrict the right to marry in Massachusetts to heterosexual couples.

Supporters of the same-sex marriage ban called Birmingham's move an undemocratic, politically motivated maneuver to prevent a favorable vote on the question. The support of just 25 percent of House and Senate members is required to place the question on the ballot, and even opponents concede the measure would have cleared that threshold.

Critics accused Birmingham of using his position as Senate president to do a favor for same-sex rights groups, giving them another month to lobby legislators against the ballot question, in exchange for their support for his gubernatorial run.

However, Birmingham’s spokeswoman, Alison Franklin said that the Senate president had delayed the session until July 17 because the constitutional convention had to consider three complicated constitutional amendments, and that legislators had not had enough time to understand the issues.

''The Legislature recessed for one month to give legislators more time to assess three significant proposed changes to the constitution, proposals including [the marriage amendment], which would deprive certain citizens of certain rights,'' Franklin said. ''They would be very serious changes to the constitution.''

But Franklin said it is possible the measures will not come to a vote, or that only one or two of them will be voted on.

For a question to be placed on the ballot, 50 of the 200 legislators in the special joint session must approve it for two consecutive years. If they do so this year and next, the question will be on the 2004 ballot. But if they fail to do it this year, the earliest the amendment could appear on the ballot would be 2006.