Gay-marriage backers, opponents vow fights
On the anniversary of the historic ruling that granted gays and lesbians the right to marry in Massachusetts, supporters and opponents vowed yesterday to carry on their fights into the coming year and held events across the state to mark the occasion.
Same-sex marriage supporters gathered last night at the Colonnade Hotel to commemorate their legal victory, but also to vow to press ahead on several legal fronts to advance same-sex marriage rights. The Supreme Judicial Court decision helped spark a backlash around the country, with 11 states passing some form of same-sex marriage ban in the Nov. 2 elections.
"People said to Dr. [Martin Luther] King that the civil rights movement was too much too fast, but no one looks back and says that now," said Hillary Goodridge, one of the lead plaintiffs in the suit that led to the decision. "That's what they always say when it comes to civil rights. . . . Why is equality too much too fast?"
A crowd of about 300 cheered Hillary and Julie Goodridge and their attorney when they were introduced last night.
Activists will continue to fight to expand same-sex marriage rights, Mary Bonauto, civil rights director of Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders, said. "The more time people have to digest these issues and the people behind these issues, they come down on the side of fairness.
"We have an exciting two or more years ahead of us," she said, referring to the fight to expand rights for same-sex couples.
Earlier in the day, more than a dozen opponents of same-sex marriage gathered near the Lexington Green battlefield and declared a revolution against the SJC judges who wrote the ruling legalizing same-sex marriage.
Brian Camenker, head of the Article 8 Alliance, told supporters waving signs reading "Dump the judges," and "Stop Judicial Tyranny" that they needed to order the Legislature to ask the governor to remove the judges. "The problem is that we've lost control of our judiciary," he said.
Beside him, a woman in a blond wig and black robe, bearing a passing resemblance to Chief Justice Margaret Marshall, used a cigarette lighter to burn a copy of the Massachusetts Constitution.
"I believe that Supreme Court Justice Margaret Marshall has trampled on the constitution," Lynn Jones of Brockton, who was costumed as Marshall, said after the rally. "She has dictated to the Legislature what laws she likes and what laws she doesn't like, and that's not her job."
Other opponents of same-sex unions expressed their anger. "If the constitution is going to be changed, it's the people of Massachusetts who will vote on that change," said Kristian M. Mineau, president of the Massachusetts Family Institute. He also charged that the SJC operated outside the bounds of law by permitting same-sex marriages. "When I travel to other parts of the country, people ask, 'What is wrong with Massachusetts?' "
At Wellesley College, more than 50 students from across the country marked their support of same-sex marriage, putting their names on a petition calling on the Legislature to protect the rights of same-sex couples to marry. "These are people that will go back to their home state and educate people there," said Ellie Blume, a 19-year-old junior from Flagstaff, Ariz., who organized the signing.
