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| Deval Patrick |
The battle for gay marriage in Massachusetts wages on now that same-sex marriage opponents have proposed a ballot question that would invalidate gay and lesbian nuptials if their union would not be recognized in their home state.
Last month, Massachusetts’ Gov. Deval Patrick—the state’s first black governor, whose daughter recently came out as a lesbian—approved repealing a 1913 statute that banned such out-of-state unions stating that the law had racial undertones from a time when interracial marriage was discouraged, according to The Associated Press.
Patrick’s decision made it possible for gay and lesbian couples throughout the country to marry in his state, where gay marriage has been legal since 2004.
Now, anti gay marriage activists led by the group Mass Resistance, are proposing adding a ballot question to undermine Patrick’s decision.
"The Legislature and the governor changed our marriage laws to please the well-connected minority and force a social experiment into other states that's very offensive to a majority of the people, at least the way the votes have been going,” said Mass Resistance member Brian Camenker, who also accused Patrick of bowing to the “gay lobby,” according to the AP.
Camenker and his group are particularly up in arms over Patrick’s emergency preamble attached to the repeal, which bypassed the standard 90-day waiting period and made the law effective immediately.
Typically, opponents would use the waiting period to collect signatures and build opposition.
"The fact that this happened the way it happened just adds to the sense of sleaziness and underhandedness of the whole process," Camenker said.
Mass Resistance needs to collect 32,000 signatures to add the question to November’s ballot.
Gay marriage advocates who had celebrated the repeal said they were disappointed but not surprised by the petition, according to the AP.
"I've learned that when it comes to equality for gay and lesbian people, the struggle is never over because there are certain people that are just strongly opposed to any rights for gay people. It's never shocking; it is disappointing," said Marc Solomon of MassEquality.
The state constitution prohibits referendum questions on subjects that relate to religion, judges, the courts, particular localities of the commonwealth, state appropriations and certain provisions of the constitution's Declaration of Rights.
Attorney General Martha Coakley has 14 days to review the proposed question, according to the AP.
Former Gov. Mitt Romney had praised the 1913 law for its innate ability to protect the state from becoming the “Las Vegas of same-sex marriage.”
