The Massachusetts state legislature has approved the first step in putting a proposed gay-marriage ban to a statewide vote. Massachusetts is the only state where gays can legally marry.
MADELEINE BRAND, host: From NPR News, it's DAY TO DAY.</s>MADELEINE BRAND, host: Massachusetts is the only state that allows gay marriage. Not everyone in the state, though, is happy about that. Yesterday, a proposed constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage passed a key legislative hurdle. That means Massachusetts residents may vote on it next year.</s>MADELEINE BRAND, host: From member station WBUR in Boston, Martha Bebinger has more.</s>CROWD: We all won today! We all won today!</s>MARTHA BEBINGER: That's the message from organizers in Massachusetts who want voters, not the courts, to decide if gay marriage remains legal in the Bay State. In the wake of the 2003 state Supreme Court ruling that authorized gay marriage, they collected a record 170,000 signatures for a ballot question that would amend the state constitution. It would define marriage as the union of one man and one woman.</s>MARTHA BEBINGER: To get on the ballot, that question must be approved by a quarter of the state's lawmakers at two constitutional conventions. Linda Streeter was at the State House in Boston when the ballot petition cleared the first hurdle yesterday.</s>Ms. LINDA STREETER (Activist): I know it's not the end of the story. I know that there's more work to be done, but a lot of people have been praying and this is just - God deserves all the glory, all the honor, all the praise. We're very happy that the legislators did their job.</s>Unidentified Man: (Unintelligible) gay marriages…</s>MARTHA BEBINGER: Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, who leaves office today and is planning a run for president, called the vote a huge victory for the people of Massachusetts. But the man who will replace him, Governor-elect Deval Patrick, urged lawmakers to defeat the proposed gay-marriage ban.</s>Governor DEVAL PATRICK (Democrat, Massachusetts): I think it is a terrible precedent for us to use the ballot initiative petition to insert discrimination into the constitution. And then practically, we have so much else to do that if we're going to concentrate on this issue, I'm afraid that the other important business is going to go wanting.</s>MARTHA BEBINGER: While Patrick did not prevail yesterday, supporters of gay marriage hope that having him in the corner office will help their cause when this question comes up again at the next constitutional convention. State Representative Byron Rushing is also banking on gay marriage becoming more familiar and more accepted.</s>State Representative BYRON RUSHING (Democrat, Massachusetts): As long as people in Massachusetts can see that same-sex marriage has not in any way damaged heterosexual marriage, and as along as they can their neighbors have homosexuals in their family, everyday that goes by that that happens we get more support.</s>MARTHA BEBINGER: Roughly 8,500 same-sex couples have wed in the last two and a half years. Their unions and any that occur before a ban is imposed would remain legal. The most recent polls on gay marriage in Massachusetts show a slim majority of support.</s>CROWD: We all won today! We all won today!</s>MARTHA BEBINGER: But most residents also say they want to vote on the issue. Again, Linda Streeter.</s>Ms. LINDA STREETER (Activist): You know, some people are of the opinion that the residents of Massachusetts, the voters, want to move on from this issue, but I believe that 170,000 signatures on an initiative petition say otherwise.</s>MARTHA BEBINGER: One side's celebration became the opponents' reason to protest last night.</s>MARTHA BEBINGER: Unidentified Man #1: You didn't win anything. You didn't win anything.</s>MARTHA BEBINGER: Unidentified Man #2: …should make the decisions.</s>MARTHA BEBINGER: If the proposed amendment to ban gay marriage passes a second vote at the next constitutional convention, it would go to voters statewide in November, 2008.</s>MARTHA BEBINGER: For NPR News, I'm Martha Bebinger in Boston.