Same-sex marriage supporters ask for probe of petition

MassEquality, a group fighting attempts to overturn the landmark court ruling legalizing same-sex marriage in Massachusetts, will allege today that at least 2,000 people were either duped into signing a petition opposing gay marriage or had their signatures forged, a spokesman said.

The group will call on Secretary of State William F. Galvin and Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly to investigate the signatures collected by workers for VoteOnMarriage, a group working to overturn legal same-sex marriage, said Marc Solomon, campaign director for MassEquality.

''In just our cursory examination, we found more than 2,000 people who stated that they were victims of fraud, forgery, trickery, or deception," Solomon said. ''I am confident that there are tens of thousands of additional fraudulent signatures."

VoteOnMarriage officials said they collected more than 170,000 signatures in support of a ballot question calling for a state constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.

Before forwarding the petition to the Legislature, the state certified more than 123,000 of the group's signatures, nearly twice the required amount.

The ballot question must now be approved by at least 50 members of the 200-member state Legislature in two successive legislative sessions before it could be put before voters in 2008.

Kris Mineau, a spokesman for VoteOnMarriage and president of the Massachusetts Family Institute, could not be reached for comment last night. On its website, the group has accused same-sex marriage defenders of harassing people who signed the petition.

Solomon said last night that volunteers for MassEquality have sent letters and made telephone calls to numerous people who had signed the petition.

The most common fraudulent tactic, Solomon said, was when signature-gatherers would ask people to first sign a petition to allow wine sales in supermarkets and then ask them to sign a ''backup copy," which was actually the petition opposing same-sex marriage.