Lawmaker shifts gay marriage stance

State Representative Eugene L. O'Flaherty, a leading opponent of gay marriage in Massachusetts, is no longer backing a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.

In a story published in yesterday's Bay Windows, New England's largest newspaper reporting on issues in the gay and lesbian community, O'Flaherty said he would advise against the passage of the proposed amendment if it comes before the Legislature. He told the newspaper that he had been influenced by constituents, including a gay friend whose wedding he attended last year, and that he wanted to focus on other priorities.

''I want to try to dispose of this issue," he said. ''It's occupied the last three years of my life; a lot of time, a lot of energy, and I'd like to apply that to healthcare. I'd like to apply that to some of the other issues that we have in front of us, that as far as I'm concerned, are much more important to our constituents at this point."

O'Flaherty did not return phone calls from the Globe yesterday.

Other politicians who opposed gay marriage, or preferred civil unions, have moderated their stance since same-sex marriage was legalized in May 2004. But the development is striking because O'Flaherty was one of the most outspoken opponents.

Last year, O'Flaherty led a group of about 20 House members who stormed out of a joint session of the Legislature to protest a filibuster that was preventing a vote on an amendment that would have banned marriage but allowed civil unions. At that time, he voted for several measures that would have banned same-sex marriage outright, as well as for a measure that allowed for civil unions. In the September 2005 constitutional convention, he voted to ban same-sex marriage but allow civil unions.

The disclosure of O'Flaherty's position followed weeks of criticism of the Chelsea Democrat, who led an effort to water down a drunken driving bill and then left the country for a vacation with other legislators before the measure was signed into law. As criticism of O'Flaherty escalated, Christopher Schiavone, a gay former Catholic priest and business owner, decided to challenge O'Flaherty for the legislative seat he won in 1996.

But Ken Stone, the Charlestown constituent who invited O'Flaherty to be among 35 guests at his September 2004 wedding, said yesterday that the lawmaker's position had evolved before the recent controversy. Stone said O'Flaherty told him of his new position in early September, as conservatives were readying a proposed 2008 amendment to ban same-sex marriage.

''I think to ban marriage was one thing, but to have not even civil unions? That was not acceptable to him," Stone told the Globe yesterday.

''He told me beforehand that he would not be in that number of representatives on this no-marriage, no civil union. He said, 'I won't be in that group.' "