Gay marriage opponent decides he won't seek another term

State Representative Philip Travis, the preeminent gay marriage opponent in the Legislature, announced yesterday that he will not run for reelection next year.

Travis insisted he was leaving to spend time with his family and pursue other interests, but he added that he fears Massachusetts is becoming more liberal than it already is, and contended that the House has moved too far to the left under Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi.

''I just think that we're losing our moral compass," Travis, one of the most conservative Democrats in the House, said in an interview at his State House office.

After the Supreme Judicial Court legalized gay marriage in November 2003, Travis helped lead a fight in the Legislature to pass a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex weddings. In the summer, with support for that amendment waning, Travis became a lead proponent of a separate proposal for a gay-marriage ban aimed for the 2008 ballot.

Earlier this week, he took to the House floor to attack a bill that would allow pharmacies to sell hypodermic needles without a prescription, arguing that it would encourage drug use. He also gave a spirited defense of the death penalty in a separate debate.

''I stand on principle, and principle leads me to be more conservative," said Travis, 65. ''I could say, for who I see in the House today, that I am probably the most conservative Democrat in the House. And I'm proud of that."

In many ways, Travis has a kindred spirit in Governor Mitt Romney, a Republican to whom he wrote a letter yesterday thanking him for his leadership on taxes, emergency contraception, and other issues.

''It's too bad, because conservative Democrats are a vanishing breed in Massachusetts," Romney's communications director, Eric Fehrnstrom, said in an e-mail. ''Phil Travis works hard for his district, and he is a strong defender of traditional values. We're going to miss his voice in the Legislature."

Travis, in his 12th term representing Rehoboth and neighboring communities, said that after two dozen years at the State House it was time to focus on life after the Legislature: teaching at a community college, enjoying his grandchildren, and continuing a quest to document Native American history in Southeastern Massachusetts.

''I came in as someone who wanted to make a difference in government," Travis said. ''I think I've done that to the best of my ability, and I'm leaving on a very high note that I've accomplished very, very much."

Travis lists among his top accomplishments in the House several banking bills he helped pass, including one more than a decade ago that allowed banks, credit unions, and other institutions to restructure mortgages during economic downturns.

His roughest period was in 1998, when, while serving as chairman of the Banking Committee, Travis was caught soliciting financial contributions for an Indian tribe in his district from several banks, at the same time controversial banking legislation was before the committee. Travis, who lost two brothers to cancer around the same time, was forced to pay a $1,500 fine and ultimately lost his chairmanship.

Travis's retirement means that conservative groups such as the Massachusetts Family Institute are losing a trusted ally.

''Phil is a champion, a true champion, for family values and for everything that I think America and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has stood for," said the group's president, Kris Mineau.

Arline Isaacson, cochairwoman of the Massachusetts Gay & Lesbian Political Caucus, said that while she and Travis have differed on same-sex marriage issues, he's been a ''positive and powerful" voice on other issues such as higher education.

''As stridently as we disagree on [gay marriage], we've always worked together very well," she said.