Thursday, 4:30 PM
Protesters gather outside State House
(David L Ryan / Globe Staff)
A Constitutional Convention at the State House that may include a vote on an amendment to ban gay marriage drew protestors on both side of the issue.
By Lisa Wangsness, Globe Staff
About 300 demonstrators are staging a noisy protest outside the State House, where lawmakers are scheduled to vote early this afternoon on whether to put a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage on the 2008 ballot.
For several hours, gay marriage supporters and opponents have been yelling and singing and waving signs on either side of Beacon Street.
The police presence is pronounced -- two mounted officers are bolstering the officers on foot -- but the protest seems peaceful, if cacaphonous.
Those supporting the ban said they were livid to read this morning that House Speaker Sal DiMasi may try to adjourn the constitutional convention without a vote on the ballot question. Gathered on the Boston Common side of the street, they are singing songs like "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" and shouting, "Let the people vote!" One man is holding massive helium balloon that said "Jesus is Lord."
"It's subverting the will of the people," said Bob McDonald, a community college professor from Danvers, of the possibility of adjournment. The vote, previously scheduled for June, "was set aside with the promise that we would take it up today."
Next to him, Angie Capomaccio, 77, of Andover, held a sign that said, "Give God his rainbow back."
"I know that, like other people, they're good people," she said. "But a marriage -- that's crossing the line."
Those opposing the ban are just as loud, hollering "This is what equality looks like!" and singing "This Little Light of Mine." Among them were Ralph Hodgdon, 72, and Paul McMahon, 73, couple for 51 years and married 2 years ago. On the back of the sign they held, they had taped pictures of their long life together -- a snapshot from a week after they met in Central Park, their hippie days, their appearance as chorus boys in a movie long ago, their marriage in the Boston Public Garden.
"We feel everyone should have the same chance that we had two years ago when we were able to get married," said McMahon.
Hodgdon dismissed the other side's argument that the electorate should weigh in on the right to marry.
"We went through desegregation, and I believe if you had put it on the ballot, those people would still be in the back of the bus," he said.
Gretchen Grimshaw, 47, an assistant rector at St. John's Episcopal Church in Jamaica Plain, agreed.
"I don't believe we should vote on civil rights," she said.
