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GLBT Vote Crucial on Election Day by Scott Darby
EDGE ContributorThursday Nov 2, 2006The future of marriage equality in Massachusetts may be decided in the Nov. 7 election.
"It’s vitally important that we get involved in the campaigns--not only voting, but as volunteers and contributors," says Rob Henry, co-chair of the Freedom to Marry Coalition of Massachusetts. "It really makes a huge difference on Election Day."
Victories for pro-equality legislative candidates and Democrat gubernatorial candidate Deval Patrick could also influence the Nov. 9 Constitutional Convention’s outcome by sending a strong message that citizens want equal marriage, making it tougher for legislators on the fence to approve placing on the 2008 ballot a state constitutional amendment that would ban it.
Newly-elected legislators will have the opportunity to stop the amendment in 2007 if it passes the convention this time--and the community needs them, activists stress.
"No matter who wins the governor’s race, there’s going to be a lot of transition and a lot of movement with a legislators moving around," says Matt McTighe, Mass Equality political director. "Especially if Deval wins, there will be a lot of our Democratic supporters who will probably leave the legislature to take jobs in his administration and we don’t know if there will then be special elections to replace those people."
The toughest races include the First Barnstable District’s contest between first-term pro-equality Rep. Cleon Turner, D-Dennis, and Republican anti-equality candidate Richard Neitz of Yarmouth, and the First Bristol District’s race between anti-equality Fred "Jay" Barrows, Republican of Mansfield, and pro-equality Democrat Claire Naughton of Foxboro. In his 2004 election win, Turner prevailed by only a few hundred votes in a district that leans to the right. Naughton faces a similar challenge, running in a district that has been represented by a Republican for the last 20 years.
Another important race is between equal-marriage supporter Democrat Rosemary Sandlin of Agawam in the Third Hampden District, where she’s running against equality opponent Robert Magovern, a Republican; Joseph Schebel, an Independent, and Owen Broadhurst of the Green Party.
Two anti-equality organizations, the Massachusetts Family Institute and the Coalition for Marriage, are helping Magovern by sending out mailings on his anti-marriage equality stand. Additionally, Broadhurst could take votes away from Sandlin.
Fourth Barnstable is an interesting race because newcomer Aaron Maloy of Orleans, a Republican and openly gay, opposes equal marriage. The contest has gotten quite a bit of media coverage on this issue alone. Maloy is running in a district that has been Republican for 100 years against pro-equality Democratic candidate Sarah Peake of Provincetown, who is also openly gay.
Perhaps the most talked about race, however, is the one to decide who succeeds retiring Rep. Phil Travis, D-Rehoboth. Travis, a conservative, has essentially been the spokesperson for the legislature’s anti-equal marriage forces.
Pro-equality candidate Steve D’Amico of Seekonk, the Democrat, has a tough race against better-financed equality opponent Steve Howitt of Seekonk, the Republican.
Voting behavior in this Fourth Bristol District has long been difficult for analysts to understand or predict. Because of this, and the positive impact of a pro-equality candidate succeeding Travis, organizations like Mass Equality and Freedom to Marry are placing particular importance on this race.
"Having a governor who supports marriage equality and is opposed to a constitutional amendment would be tremendously helpful, compared to the climate we’ve been fighting in for the last several years under the Romney administration." The full list of the Freedom to Marry Coalition’s endorsements of legislative candidates is available at www.freedomtomarrypac.org.
The upcoming Constitutional Convention is "the most serious threat we have faced," says McTighe. "There is a ballot initiative petition to amend the constitution to take away marriage." Opponents of marriage equality tried in the wake of the Goodridge decision to amend the Constitution by passing a legislatively enacted amendment that was narrowly passed in 2004, but it had to pass again in 2005 to be enacted. It has to pass in two consecutive years. "In 2005, it was overwhelmingly defeated," McTighe explained.
"What we saw was within one year of marriage being recognized, and same-sex people actually getting married, overwhelmingly legislators realized that this wasn’t a big deal, that the sensationalist aspect was taken away, a lot of legislators attended same-sex weddings or met same-sex couples from their districts and realized that this was not a big deal," he added.
After the proposed amendment went down to defeat at the 2005 convention, opponents of equal marriage went the citizens initiative route and got plenty of signatures to put their proposed amendment on the ballot in 2008, providing it is twice approved by 25 percent of the legislature--"Just 50 votes, which is where we are now," said McTighe. If the amendment is approved Nov. 9, it would have to be passed one more time in 2007 before going to the voters in November 2008.
Massachusetts’ four Catholic bishops and an estimated three million Catholics are two other forces in play this election. In a new appeal over the past two weeks in parish bulletins, the bishops are urging the faithful to contact their legislators and tell them to vote for the anti-equality amendment.
According to www.macathconf.org, the web site of the Massachusetts Catholic Conference, the inserts, also translated into Spanish and Portuguese, include a message from the bishops and an action alert tailored to the legislative districts where each parish is located. The bishops requested that the inserts be included in all parish bulletins distributed over the final two weekends before the Constitutional Convention.
In July, a posting on the site read: "The marriage amendment is still alive, its supporters have framed the debate, we continue to have at least 50 legislators willing to move the amendment forward if given the chance, the other side is on the defensive, and we have the opportunity to expand already strong grassroots efforts." An Oct. 20 update says things are still going well: "By all reports, we have the 50 legislators" to approve the proposed amendment at the Nov. 9 convention.
McTighe says success at the first vote is extremely important because a vote for the amendment will build momentum for a second passage in 2007. One ray of hope the amendment might fail is that observers across Massachusetts have noticed the anti-equal marriage folks toning down their "immorality" rhetoric this election season. This could indicate a shift in signals they are getting from voters in their districts.
Additionally, a win by Deval Patrick could bring more legislators to the equal-marriage side, because if Patrick does well in their districts they might not see a vote against the amendment as a political liability.
The Catholic Conference web site also includes concerns of a walk-out by legislators on Nov. 9: "Some incumbents, after asking the people to vote them back into power on Election Tuesday, want to misuse that power on the following Thursday to stop the people from voting for themselves." The church also reported on talk of a ConCon boycott. "The directions might read: Stay home. Don’t show up. Without a quorum, the ConCon will die, and the initiative petition will die. After months of ubiquitous campaigning to get a vote from the people, take the rest of the year off to prevent a vote by the people. That’s the plan, according to some reports."
Taking a look at the governor’s race, Massachusetts GLBTs may end up with the best friend they’ve ever had in that office, activists point out. "We at the Coalition endorsed Deval Patrick back in January," said Henry. "We’ve been with him the whole time and he’s going to be a great advocate for the GLBT community. It’s important that we have these people, because we’ve seen in the last four years what happens when we don’t."
According to McTighe, "Our main focus is on the legislature, because that’s where the vote is. That said, though, having a governor who supports marriage equality and is opposed to a constitutional amendment would be tremendously helpful, compared to the climate we’ve been fighting in for the last several years under the Romney administration. It would be a very welcome change and it certainly would help our cause. We think he is someone who will fight for our community, not just on this issue but on every issue."
Scott Darby is a freelance writer who lives in Providence. He majored in communications at Roger Williams University.
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