News :: GLBT
MA House Parties Boost Marriage Equalityby Kilian MelloyMonday Apr 30, 2007 House parties in support of marriage equality took place across Massachusetts over the weekend, featuring an 11-minute video produced by MassEquality.
The parties represent an attempt by supporters of marriage equality to rally in opposition to a proposed amendment to the Massachusetts Constitution that would strip marriage equality from residents and prevent future marriages between same-sex couples. Since 2004, Massachusetts has been the only state in America to allow same-sex couples to wed.
In January, the proposed Massachusetts amendment cleared the first of two legislative hurdles when 63 state lawmakers voted to allow the proposition to go forward and appear on the 2008 ballot as a referendum initiative. If 50 or more out of the state’s 200 legislators vote in favor of the amendment during the May 9 constitutional convention, the proposal will appear on the 2008 ballot, putting marriage equality at risk.
Titled Angels, the MassEquality video relates the story of how a similar anti-marriage equality amendment went to a referendum vote in Wisconsin, with the unexpected result that the amendment was approved by voters and the Wisconsin Constitution amended to exclude same-sex couples from marriage. Interviewees on the video include Mark Pocan, a Wisconsin state representative, who is shown saying, "Do you really want mob rule deciding who’s going to be discriminated against and who’s not going to be discriminated against?"
Bill Engvall (no relation to the "Blue Collar" comedian) hosted one house party in Brockton on Sunday with his husband, Scott Rohnstrom. "It was well attended by friends and family," Engvall, who married Rohnstrom in 2005, told EDGE Monday morning. "There were lots of church members there. The mood was definitely upbeat." Engvall, who also attended another house party in Brockton with his husband on Saturday, estimated that his and Rohnstrom’s party drew a crowd of about 25 people, including a MassEquality representative who answered questions from the party’s attendees.
MassEquality campaign director Marc Solomon told The Boston Globe, "Advocates for gay rights are getting their family and friends together to watch the video and go out and support us," with a goal of "getting folks to contact...their legislators in support of gay marriage."
Marriage equality opponents believe that the question of who enjoys the right to wed should be decided by the people. VoteOnMarriage.org spokesperson Lisa Barstow told the Globe, "This is not an issue that is going to go away. People have a right to vote and they want to exercise that right."
The Angels video approaches the question of putting rights to popular vote from the opposite perspective, posing the question at one point, "What would have happened if there was a referendum on whether the Irish should be able to vote in the 19th century?"
Kilian Melloy reviews media, conducts interviews, and writes commentary for EDGEBoston, where he also serves as Assistant Arts Editor.
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