Gay-nuptial foes submit signatures seeking ban

Supporters of an initiative to ban same-sex unions in Massachusetts delivered boxes of petitions to the secretary of state yesterday, the next step in their quest to overturn the 2003 court ruling that legalized gay marriage.

The Massachusetts Family Institute and its supporters collected more than 170,000 signatures in support of a ballot question proposed for the November 2008 election. Of those, 147,000 were certified by local election clerks. They needed only 65,825 certified signatures to qualify for the ballot.

''What does that tell us?" Kris Mineau, president of the Massachusetts Family Institute, said at a rally on Beacon Hill. ''That the people of Massachusetts have not only spoken, they have shouted. And what are they shouting? 'Let the people vote.' "

Because the initiative seeks to amend the state Constitution, it must also be approved by lawmakers during two successive legislative sessions before it can go on the 2008 ballot. But the ballot question needs the support of only 50 of the state's 200 lawmakers, while the amendment proposed by the Legislature needed consecutive majority votes.

Critics accused supporters of the petition of deceiving people, in some cases having them first sign a petition proposing to allow wine sales in grocery stores before flipping over their clipboards and having them sign a second petition without specifying that it was for the gay marriage ban.

''We believe there was no deception involved," Mineau said yesterday. ''This was a bipartisan event. There were no politics involved." Other groups participating in the petition drive were the Coalition for Marriage and Family and the Catholic Citizenship, which is headed by former Boston mayor Raymond L. Flynn. The Catholic Church also supported the petition drive, as did Governor Mitt Romney.