Gay marriage supporters pin hopes on new Legislature

BOSTON --John Fernandes is one of a batch of new lawmakers sworn in Wednesday who could hold the key to the future of gay marriage in Massachusetts -- a responsibility not lost on the freshman Democrat from Milford.

Fernandes, who supports gay marriage, replaces one of the House's fiercest opponents of gay marriage, fellow Democrat Marie Parente.

Unlike Parente, Fernandes says he'll to vote against a proposed constitutional amendment that would ban future gay marriages.

"It doesn't solve the problem," he said. "The underlining problem if that passes remains how are we going to handle the relationship between people of the same sex who enter into healthy loving and caring relationships."

Fernandes isn't alone. Gay rights activists say they will pick up seven votes against the amendment, which defines marriage as the union of a man and a woman, in the new Legislature. They will need it if they hope to block the question from reaching the 2008 ballot.

On Tuesday, lawmakers voted 62-134 to forward the question on to the new Legislature sworn in on Wednesday. Just 50 votes are needed when the question comes up again during the new two-year session to put the amendment to voters.

The seven additional votes gets gay activists closer to killing the question, but they will still need to change the minds of at least half a dozen returning lawmakers.

State Rep. Byron Rushing, D-Boston, said he and other supporters of gay marriage have their work cut out for them.

"I think that most of us are optimistic that we are going to get members who are still here who support this amendment to change their opinion," he said.

Gay marriage supporters have one more thing going for them. Gov. Mitt Romney, a vocal opponent of gay marriage who was filing papers Wednesday to seek the 2008 GOP presidential nomination, is being replaced by Gov.-elect Deval Patrick, who urged lawmakers to kill the amendment.

Backers of the question say they're confident they have a solid bloc of more than 50 lawmakers who won't flip their votes.

"We've got in excess of 50 votes we'll be working that hard to make sure they stay steady," said Kris Mineau of the Massachusetts Family Institute, which collected more than 120,000 certified signatures in support of the amendment. "Our goal is to shore up our votes."

A central player in the drama is Senate President Robert Travaglini, D-Boston, who presides over the joint session where lawmakers debate and vote on proposed constitutional amendments.

On Tuesday, some gay advocates criticized Travaglini for quickly calling votes on the amendment without allowing debate or giving them time to persuade lawmakers to change their votes.

Travaglini, who opposes gay marriage but supports civil unions, defended his decision to move quickly.

"It wasn't an attempt to do anything but keep the proceedings going in a dignified way and in a forward fashion," he said. "We've been discussing this for three years."

Travaglini, who voted to put the question on the ballot, said allowing voters to decide the issue will "bring some sense of finality to this discussion."

Patrick conceded Wednesday he was surprised by the series of quick votes.

The incoming governor said he lost touch with the issue while on a recent 10-day vacation to South Africa and did not learn until his return to Boston on Monday that the Supreme Judicial Court ruled last week that lawmakers should take a vote on the issue, instead of using parliamentary maneuvers to kill the measure.

"I learned about the SJC's decision the day before I came up here, because I had been out of the country until then," said Patrick, who urged lawmakers to kill the amendment. "There was a strategy in place when I left the country. That strategy changed while I was away."

Newly elected state Rep. Thomas Conroy, D-Wayland, represents another pick up of a vote for gay activists. He replaces former Rep. Susan Pope, who voted in favor of the amendment.

"I'm very supportive of marriage equality," he said. "I'm optimistic we're going to have enough votes to defeat the initiative."

But supporters of the amendment picked up at least one vote.

New state Rep. Linda Dean Campbell, D-Metheun, said she'll vote in favor of putting the amendment before voters. She replaces former Rep. Arthur J. Broadhurst who opposed it.

"The issue of the First Amendment right to petition the government on issues that are important to the people really supersedes the issue at hand," she said.

House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi, D-Boston, said he'll work to kill the amendment.

"Sometimes we have to do what is the right thing, not the popular thing," he said.

Since the marriages began in 2004, more than 8,000 same-sex couples have wed in Massachusetts, the only state to allow gay marriage.