The
Massachusetts Citizens Alliance is leading a
coalition to preserve the traditional definition
of marriage here in Massachusetts. If passed, the
law would codify into law the definition of
marriage as "a legal relationship between
one man and one woman, who take each other
exclusively as husband and wife."
Last year the State of Vermont legalized marriage
of gay couples calling it a "civil
union." The Vermont law affords gay couples
the same legal status, tax breaks and health
benefits as traditional married couples. Under
constitutional provisions, other states may have
to recognize such civil unions and grant legal
benefits to gay couples who were married in
Vermont.
The Protection of Marriage legislation would
prevent the expansion of domestic partnership
benefits in Massachusetts, saving the taxpayers
millions of dollars. The Commonwealth would not
have to recognize "civil unions"
acquired in Vermont. Bryan Rudnick, executive
director of the Massachusetts Citizens Alliance
appeared on the Paying Attention! radio program
on WCCM to discuss the merits of the proposed
legislation.
"The biggest misconception of the Protection
of Marriage Bill is that it has to do with
homosexuals and lesbians," said Rudnick.
"This is a bill which would legally define
marriage as the union of a man and a woman who
come together to procreate the human species. For
thousands of years marriage has been recognized
this way. There are certain benefits which are
exclusively offered to married couples and if we
do not legally define marriage as only between
one man and one woman the state will have to
shell out hundreds of millions of dollars in
health benefits to anyone who wants to declare
someone as their domestic partner. Without this
definition a state worker can declare anyone as a
domestic partner whether they are gay or not, and
the tax payers would be obligated to pay for
their health benefits."
Rudnick also pointed out the recent state income
tax reduction would have to be eliminated or
state services would have to be cut to pay for
the enormous cost increases to cover state health
benefits for domestic partnerships. The
Massachusetts Citizens Alliance (MCA) plans on
submitting 20,000 signatures to the legislature
next month when the bill comes before the House
Judiciary Committee. "We want to show
members of the state legislature that the
citizens of the Commonwealth support protecting
the integrity of marriage."
Tennis Lilly, president of the Lawrence
Grassroots Initiative responded to the efforts of
Rudnick and the MCA as "anti gay" and
said that homosexuals ought to have the legal
rights to marry each other as heterosexual
couples do. "Homosexual couples are no less
legitimate than a heterosexual couple. The
government has no right to deny them the right to
marry or adopt children."
The Protection of Marriage Bill was sponsored by
House Ways and Means Chairman, Representative
John Rogers (D-Norwood) and cosponsored by
Representative Francis Marini of Hanson.
Representative Rogers told the Boston Globe that
efforts by radical leftists to label him as
anti-gay are inaccurate. "Massachusetts
issues thousands of licenses a year, and
there’s not even a definition of marriage.
There are definitions in all of our general laws
except for this one," he told the Globe.
"If we have a common understanding of what
marriage is, then we as a legislature and a
society at large choose to expand or restrict
that definition accordingly."
"This is just an insidious attempt to
demonize the queer community and force gays back
into the closet as second class citizenship. When
will the right wing realize that they cannot
erase decades of social progress with a poorly
written and utterly unjustified piece of
homophobic legislation?" concluded Mr.
Lilly.
Citizens wishing to sign the petition for the
Protection of Marriage Bill may contact the
Massachusetts Citizens Alliance at 781-647-1942
or sign the petition on the Internet at www.masscitiens.com.
Rudnick says that volunteers and town
coordinators are needed to reach their goal but
residents of the Commonwealth can contact their
State Representatives and State Senators to
support the bill.
State Representative, Dave Torrissi, who
represents Lawrence and North Andover will be one
of the first legislators to vote on this proposal
since it must pass the House Judiciary Committee
prior to coming to the House floor for a full
vote. If you would like to contact Representative
Torrissi on this bill, his office number is (617)
722-2565.
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