aTypical Joe: a gay New Yorker living in the rural South

Thursday, June 14, 2007

Same sex marriage will stay legal in Massachusetts

Hooray!

Same-sex marriage will remain legal in Massachusetts, as its proponents today won a pitched months-long battle to defeat a proposed constitutional amendment to define marriage as between a man and a woman.

“In Massachusetts today, the freedom to marry is secure,” Gov. Deval Patrick said after the legislature voted 151 to 45 against the amendment, which needed 50 favorable votes in order to come before voters in a referendum in November 2008.

Today’s vote means that opponents of gay marriage would have to start from square one to sponsor a new amendment, which could not get on the ballot before 2012. Massachusetts is the only state where same-sex marriage is legal, although five states allow civil unions or their equivalent.