Group to seek referendum against gay marriage

Opponents of same-sex marriage will announce tomorrow an initiative petition to put a constitutional amendment on the statewide ballot in 2008 that would ban such marriages, lawmakers and activists involved said yesterday.

The decision to mount the effort for a Defense of Marriage Act ballot question follows months of intense debate among foes of same-sex marriage, many of whom worry that a competing compromise measure already before the Legislature will fail when it comes up for a vote later this year.

That compromise, which could go on the 2006 ballot, would ban same-sex marriage but establish civil unions for gay and lesbian couples, a provision opponents call ''marriage lite." Its opponents prefer a ban on same-sex marriage, without civil unions, even if the plan means waiting until the 2008 ballot.

''I think the people ought to have a chance to vote on it," said Representative Emile J. Goguen, a Fitchburg Democrat among the group of lawmakers and activists, including the Massachusetts Family Institute, who decided to push for a ballot initiative banning same-sex marriage.

The prospect of a new amendment with no provision for civil unions will probably undermine support for the competing, compromise measure. That compromise measure must clear the Legislature once more in order to be placed on the 2006 ballot.

Activists and strategists familiar with the effort to ban same-sex marriage, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said they believe their proposed amendment would have a better chance of winning approval because it contains simpler language that defines marriage as between one man and one woman, without mentioning civil unions. However, a March 2005 Boston Globe poll indicated that 56 percent of Massachusetts residents supported same-sex marriage. If those attitudes prevail, the prospects for the new initiative petition could be poor.

Supporters of the ban are also taking a different route to the ballot, requiring fewer votes in the Legislature. In order to amend the state Constitution via the initiative petition process, proponents would have to gather 66,500 signatures between Sept. 21 and Nov. 23. After that, one-quarter of the Legislature's 200 members, meeting in a constitutional convention, would have to approve the measure in two successive sessions, followed by a simple majority of voters in 2008.

By comparison, the measure now before the Legislature, sponsored by Senate President Robert E. Travaglini and Senate Republican leader Brian P. Lees, would require the backing of at least 101 lawmakers to make it onto the ballot. It won preliminary approval, 105-92, last year, but its chances of passage in the second consideration were already in question. Supporters of same-sex marriage, the status quo in Massachusetts, picked up a net four votes in recent elections, and several lawmakers have openly discussed the possibility of opposing the amendment this year because the legalization of same-sex marriage has caused few problems in the state.

Supporters of same-sex marriage said yesterday that they were surprised their adversaries were launching an initiative petition drive because, by their count, the Travaglini-Lees measure still had enough legislative backing to make it onto the ballot.

''We think they're crazy," said Arline Isaacson, cochairwoman of the Massachusetts Gay and Lesbian Political Caucus. ''We're amazed that they are writing off this year's [constitutional convention] when we know they have a very good chance of winning this year and therefore banning same-sex marriages starting in 2006. We're amazed they are considering letting us get married for two more years through 2008. It will virtually guarantee that many thousands more gay people will get married."

It is unclear whether Governor Mitt Romney will assist the backers of the initiative petition.

A senior Romney administration aide said last night that the governor's deputy chief of staff, Peter Flaherty, had been working closely with the Massachusetts Family Institute since the Supreme Judicial Court ruled on Nov. 18, 2003, that same-sex partners have a right to marry under the state Constitution. Still, the governor has not made a decision whether to back the initiative petition, Flaherty said.

Romney persuaded 15 Republican representatives to back the Travaglini-Lees amendment last year, saying it was better to have civil unions than same-sex marriages. Romney then asked Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly to ask the SJC to stay its ruling pending the outcome of the constitutional amendment process, but Reilly declined.

The Massachusetts Family Institute declined yesterday to say whether it was seeking to place a same-sex marriage ban on the 2008 ballot. The group's president, Kristian M. Mineau, issued a statement saying: ''The coalition partners have been actively reviewing the amendment and what we see as its flaws. We are finalizing plans for a public response."

Ronald A. Crews, former head of the Massachusetts Family Institute and a leader among opponents of same-sex marriage, told the Globe in May that he believed his coalition could succeed in getting the support necessary to pass a ballot question.