Marriage battle could broaden

Gay rights advocates and state Democratic leaders are lobbying the national party to help them pressure a handful of state legislators to change their position and vote to kill a proposed state constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages.

Two staff members from MassEquality, the group leading the fight to protect same-sex marriage in the only state where it is legal, met last week in Washington with officials of the Democratic National Committee to make their case that a high-profile, expensive battle in Massachusetts next year would drain valuable resources away from the presidential race and its other national political efforts.

They came armed with a list of about two dozen Democratic state lawmakers whom MassEquality, working with legislative leaders and Governor Deval Patrick, have targeted as potential converts to their effort to kill the amendment.

"If this question makes it to the ballot, it would draw tremendous resources into a political fight in Massachusetts that otherwise would be spent on national campaigns," said Marc Solomon, campaign director for MassEquality, who met with the DNC staff. "Democratic donors would redirect their money here for a campaign that would be a higher priority for them."

John Walsh, the state Democratic Party chairman, said he will take up the issue with DNC chairman Howard Dean at a national party conclave next week.

"I am anxious to . . . see to what degree his involvement can be effective," Walsh said. "Certainly he would be a credible spokesman for the impact on the national stage."

Dean was not involved in the meeting with MassEquality, and there is no indication that the national party has made any decisions about how to handle the request. Luis Miranda, a DNC spokesman, said the visit from the gay rights activists was "a positive and productive informational meeting initiated by MassEquality."

"It was a good discussion," Miranda said. "Beyond that, we're reaching out to our state party and allies to get a better read on the situation."

The leader of the effort to overturn the state's landmark court decision, which led to the nation's first same-sex marriages in 2004, said the new lobbying strategy indicates that gay rights activists are becoming desperate.

"This is indicative of how little success our opponents are having on a state and local level, that they have to go outside Massachusetts and apply national political pressure on legislators here to change their votes," said Kris Mineau, president of the Massachusetts Family Institute. "We consider this to be a Commonwealth issue that percolates up from the grass roots."

Under the state constitution, amendments that stem from a citizen petition must receive support from one-quarter of the 200 state representatives and senators in two successive legislative sessions to qualify for the ballot.

In January, at the end of the last legislative session, the ban passed the first hurdle, winning support from 62 lawmakers, 12 more than necessary. Based on legislative turnover since then, gay rights advocates believe they need to change eight votes to block the proposal from going before voters in November 2008.

"We are not leaving any stone unturned," Solomon said. He and Matt McTighe, MassEquality's political director, met with DNC political director Maureen Garde, a former Massachusetts party operative, and Brian Bond, a staff member who works on gay constituency issues for the party.

Opponents of same-sex marriage agree that the vote would be close, Mineau said, but believe they will maintain their slim margin of victory if a vote is taken in the near future.

The House and Senate will meet in a Constitutional Convention next Wednesday, but legislative leaders said they will probably call for an immediate recess and reconvene on a future date, as they do most years.

Solomon would not share the list of lawmakers who have been targeted. He and state Democratic leaders were unclear as to what the national party could do to sway those lawmakers to change their positions, other than to make the case that the party needs every resource to win the White House in 2008 and to strengthen its grip on the US House and Senate.

Walsh said the legislators on MassEquality's list are Democrats who would be open to considering the impact of a highly emotional and expensive ballot campaign.

Also trying to negotiate a role for the national party is the recently resigned chairman, Philip W. Johnston, who has made the case to Dean's staff that a full-fledged battle in Massachusetts over same-sex marriage next year would be a blow to the party's 2008 efforts. "This would be a very foolish waste of resources," Johnston said.

Steve Grossman, the former national Democratic Party chairman, said that in recent years Republicans have proven extremely adept at diverting attention from issues that are important to voters and instead forcing candidates to focus on culturally divisive issues.

"There is potential for the Republicans and the conservative right to galvanize voters and their donors around the gay marriage issue if it is on the 2008 ballot, all at the expense of the issues where the Republics are as weak as they have been for a generation," said Grossman, who also once led the Massachusetts Democratic Party.

"It could very well make Massachusetts a national battleground over an issue that is extreme ly divisive and that will draw attention and energy away from the issues that the Democrats need to win decisively in November '08," he said.