Gays mark anniversary of marriage ruling

Eric Johnston
PlanetOut Network
Friday, November 19, 2004


On Thursday Massachusetts marked the one-year anniversary of
Goodridge v. Department of Health, the landmark court decision
that legalized same-sex marriage in the Bay State, even as
national LGBT community was still licking its wounds from
bruising setbacks in the Nov. 2 election.

In Boston, hundreds of supporters of marriage equality attended
a forum at a hotel, while a handful of opponents of same-sex
marriage publicly burned a copy of the Massachusetts
Constitution.

More than 3,000 same-sex couples have gotten married in
Massachusetts so far.

"The biggest news is that these marriages aren't news," read a
statement from Cheryl Jacques, president of the Human Rights
Campaign, a national LGBT political organization. "The sky
hasn't fallen, and life has gone on normally."

Marriage equality advocates do have some cause for concern. In
January, state lawmakers will consider a proposed constitutional
amendment to revoke gay marriage.

But the results Nov. 2 election left the state Legislature more
firmly in the hands of gay rights supporters, according to Gary
Buseck, legal director of the Gay & Lesbian Advocates &
Defenders (GLAD), the Massachusetts group that successfully
argued the Goodridge case.

"All the signs suggest we're moving in the right direction to
keep it off the ballot in 2006," Buseck told the PlanetOut
Network on Friday.

GLAD is also asking the courts to overturn a law that prevents
same-sex couples from out of state to marry in Massachusetts.

However, across the rest of the country, the battle for marriage
equality has suffered setbacks. President George W. Bush, who
endorsed a federal constitutional amendment to bar same-sex
couples from marrying, won re-election this month, and voters
approved ballot measures banning same-sex marriage in 11 states.

"Since the Goodridge decision -- some experts say because of
it -- citizens across the nation have shouted a resounding no to
same-sex marriage at the polls," read a joint statement from the
Coalition for Marriage and the Massachusetts Family Institute,
which oppose same-sex marriage.

Such statements are an attempt at "right-wing spin," according
to Evan Wolfson, executive director of Freedom to Marry, an
organization working to gain marriage equality nationwide.

"The more people look at numbers and think though this election,
it's clear it was not decided on gay marriage or any huge
rejection of it," he said. "Just as they pursue their attacks,
we must pursue our engagements of fair-minded people."

And that's what is going on in a handful of other states. Court
cases seeking marriage rights for gays and lesbians are still
pending in California, Connecticut and New Jersey.

For now, Massachusetts remains the only place in the U.S. where
gay and lesbian couples can marry.

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