Today, May 17, thousands of same-sex couples in Massachusetts are celebrating their first wedding anniversary. If something doesn't change, it may also be their last.
One year ago, same-sex couples legally married for the first time. How do most Massachusetts voters feel about the issue today?
From the Boston Phoenix, quoting a recent poll:
In fact, 48 percent of poll respondents (the random sample consisted of voters from every part of the state) said gay marriage had no impact on the overall quality of life in Massachusetts, and 36 percent said life had actually gotten better. A full 82 percent said gay marriage has had either no impact or a positive one on heterosexual marriage couples.
That's the good news. The sky didn't fall, heterosexuals are happy and the Radical Right has been proven wrong.
The bad news: They is a very good chance that they're going to win anyway--forcibly terminating all of those marriages--because we've almost shut off the funding for our side.
Much more on the flip. Please read -- and respond.
I've been getting worried appeals from MassEquality, the political umbrella organization working at the State House to defend equal marriage rights in Massachusetts. Funding for our side has
dried up.
Why? Because the media has been completely misleading, making it sound like equality is safe and sound. But it isn't.
Here's the real scoop, especially for out-of-state folks who haven't heard all the details:
- Last year the Legislature approved an antigay amendment to the Constitution, which would overturn state law and ban marriage equality. This amendment would write discrimination into the world's oldest written constitution--and it would spell forced divorce for over 6,000 already-married people.
- Before the amendment goes to voters, it must be approved by the Legislature again this year. And there will be another vote this year; Senate President Travigliani, who calls the shots, has promised one.
- It will take 100 votes to stop the Amendment. We don't have them. If nothing changes, we are going to lose.
- We just lost some potential support. A few weeks ago, one legislator who seemed persuadable on the issue said he would vote for the Amendment again.
- The Right holds all the cards. Right now, they're debating strategy. If they back the Amendment again, it can win. If they decide it doesn't go far enough--because it permits civil unions--they'll instead launch a ballot initiative drive with a much lower threshhold in the legislature.
So there it is. Mass voters are fine with equality, but the extremists have the money and organization on their side. Familiar story?
There's a plan to fight back, but there's no money to do it.
That's the sad thing. MassEquality seems well-run, and they have very specific plans to mobilize supporters in key districts. But a lot of supporters, especially straight supporters and progressives from out of state, have stopped giving--misled by reporting in the mainstream media that's flat-out wrong.
Here's an example mentioned in a letter I received from MassEquality.
We've put together a field program to hire 12 organizers--college students on summer vacation--to canvass neighborhoods on foot and visit concerts, fairs and festivals. Their job includes identifying 50,000 supporters and soliciting 5,000 letters to legislators in targeted districts. It's critical work, because we get our best results face-to-face. We've even started interviewing candidates...but we don't have any money to hire them. None. So at this point, it's simply not going to happen.
Think about it. We don't have enough cash to pay a dozen college students an hour wage to ring doorbells over the summer. But Focus on the Family spends almost a quarter of a billion dollars a year to viciously attack us. That's more than the combined annual budgets of all the gay rights organizations in the United States.
MassEquality is asking for your help to put those canvassers on the ground and carry out its other programs.
(By the way, I'm not a MassEquality employee or a representative, not in a same-sex marriage and they have not asked me to post this; I've given them a few bucks and done some occasional grunt work.)
If equality loses here, it loses everywhere. And it will prove that the Right has the power to execute its divisive social agenda even against the voters' will and established state law. That's why the Right is pouring money into this battle from all across the country.
We have to give equal support our side. Or else our rights are next.
Donate to MassEquality