ConCon FAQ
By Ethan Jacobs, Bay Windows | July 6, 2006
On July 12 the Massachusetts House and Senate will meet together at a constitutional convention (ConCon) to determine the fate of a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage. Heres everything you need to know about the amendment that could put an end to gay marriage in the Bay State.
Q: What does the amendment say?
A: The text of the amendment reads, "When recognizing marriage entered after the adoption of this amendment by the people, the Commonwealth and its political subdivisions shall define marriage as only the union of one man and one woman." That means that once the amendment becomes part of the state constitution no same-sex couples will be able to get married in Massachusetts. The amendment will have no impact on the marriages of couples who marry before its passage.
Q: What happens if it passes?
A: If the amendment comes up for a vote at the ConCon and receives at least 50 votes from lawmakers, it gets put on the docket for the ConCon next year. If it passes in 2007, again with at least 50 votes, it will be put before voters on the 2008 general election ballot. If a majority of voters pass it, the amendment will become part of the state constitution.
Q: It seems like each year there's another marriage amendment. Why have there been so many, and are they all related?
A: Since 2001 a familiar cast of characters has been pushing amendments to ban same-sex marriage, thus far without success (see "Inner Circle Jerks," March 16). You need a score card to keep track of them all, but here they are in a nutshell:
In 2002 a group called Massachusetts Citizens for Marriage succeeded in using a citizen petition to send a marriage amendment to that year's ConCon, but a majority of lawmakers, led by then-Sen. President Tom Birmingham, voted to adjourn the ConCon without voting on the amendment, effectively killing it.
In February and March 2004 lawmakers debated another marriage amendment introduced by Rep. Phil Travis (D-Rehoboth). That amendment had the backing of the Massachusetts Family Institute, the state's four Catholic bishops, and Gov. Mitt Romney. During four days of debate the amendment itself was amended and re-amended, and ultimately replaced by a compromise amendment submitted by Sen. President Robert Travaglini and Sen. Minority Leader Brian Lees that both banned same-sex marriage and instituted civil unions. The Travaglini-Lees amendment won a majority vote in March.
Last September, the Travaglini-Lees amendment came up for its second vote, but it had lost the support of many of the Travis amendment's original backers. It lost in a landslide 157-39 vote.
In June 2005 Mass. Family Institute, the Catholic Church and other organizations formed the coalition VoteOnMarriage.org and announced a new citizen petition for the current marriage amendment. Their signature campaign last fall was plagued with repeated charges of deception and forgery. The Secretary of State certified 123,356 signatures out of the 170,000 turned in by VoteOnMarriage.org, nearly twice as many as the 65,825 required to send the amendment to this month's ConCon.
Q: Who supports the marriage amendment?
A: The current amendment has the backing of a powerful coalition including Mass. Family Institute, the state's Catholic hierarchy, Gov. Mitt Romney and the Black Ministerial Alliance. At the national level, religious right powerhouse organizations like Focus on the Family and the Family Research Council (FRC) are supporting the amendment effort, and on June 23 FRC sent an e-mail to its Bay State supporters urging them to lobby for a vote on the amendment.
Q: Who opposes the marriage amendment?
A: The lead coalition opposing the marriage amendment, MassEquality, is made up of most of the state's major LGBT organizations and allies like the ACLU of Massachusetts and the Massachusetts chapter of the National Organization of Women. MassEquality has stated that it has a solid majority of lawmakers in the state House and Senate committed to marriage equality, and House Speaker Sal DiMasi has been a vocal supporter.
Q: What will happen on July 12?
A: It's all still up in the air. There's a chance the ConCon might not even happen that day. Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders (GLAD) argued in a lawsuit before the Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) that Attorney General Tom Reilly should never have certified the citizen petition because it violated the rule banning petitions for amendments that would reverse judicial decisions. The SJC could issue a ruling at any time. The ConCon had originally been scheduled for May 10, but Sen. President Robert Travaglini delayed it until this month.
Travaglini spokesperson Ann Dufresne told the Boston Globe at the time that the debate would likely be postponed until the court rules. Dufresne did not return a call to comment for this story.
If the ConCon does go forward on July 12 the VoteOnMarriage.org amendment appears as agenda item number 20 on the calendar. Arline Isaacson, co-chair of the Massachusetts Gay and Lesbian Political Caucus and the leader of the lobby team working to stop the amendment, said that one possibility for defeating the amendment is if the ConCon simply doesn't get to it.
"I can't imagine how the legislature can get through and vote on 19 items in one day in order to get to number 20," said Isaacson. "If they can't make it through the calendar then [lawmakers] have a decision to make about what to do, and they can do anything they want."
She said the ConCon could be extended beyond July 12, as was done in 2004 or simply end without a vote on the amendment. Isaacson said that decision could be made either by a majority vote or unilaterally by Senate leadership.
There's also the strong possibility that lawmakers will get to the marriage amendment, in which case all eyes will be on Travaglini, the ConCon's presiding officer. He could choose to force lawmakers to take a vote on the amendment, or he could allow same-sex marriage supporters to kill it through some procedural move.
Q: Do marriage equality supporters have the 151 votes to defeat the amendment on an up-or-down vote?
A: Not according to MassEquality Campaign Director Marc Solomon, and MassEquality will be hard-pressed to get them.
"It's extremely difficult if not impossible. The legislators who have not enunciated a position or who are not decided, we're into this more conservative batch of legislators [representing] places where there aren't many gays and lesbians living, places where the Catholic Church is very strong and has more power, the local Catholic churches," said Solomon. "So we're really into a conservative group of legislators that we are going after now. So it's tough." Isaacson declined to say how many votes MassEquality currently has lined up in opposition to the amendment.
Q: What other ways are there to defeat the amendment?
A: Beyond a straight up-or-down vote, lawmakers could kill the amendment through a number of procedural maneuvers. The challenge is that the success of those maneuvers will likely require the support of Travaglini, who has the authority to determine who can speak and at what time.
Travaglini's office has been silent on what approach he'll take to presiding over the ConCon.
Isaacson said she has no assurances that he would allow advocates to kill the amendment procedurally.
"He has never told us, never, that he would do a procedural vote. So we have to continue to prepare for an up-and-down vote on the merits," said Isaacson. She said Travaglini's support would be "pivotal" to the outcome of a procedural maneuver's success.
If Travaglini does give advocates the go-ahead to use a procedural maneuver (or if he agrees to not to interfere) there are a number of potential strategies at their disposal to kill the amendment. One is to ensure the amendment does not come up during the ConCon. As stated above, the VoteOnMarriage.org amendment is agenda item number 20, behind amendments on issues ranging from healthcare to extending the terms of members of the Legislature. Lawmakers could decide, after deliberating other items on the agenda, to take a majority vote to end the ConCon before the amendment comes up.
They could also cut to the chase and use the approach used by lawmakers in 2002 to kill that year's marriage amendment. As with the VoteOnMarriage.org amendment, that year's amendment only needed 50 votes to pass, and same-sex marriage activists knew they didn't have the votes to block it. Instead, with the help of Birmingham, lawmakers took a vote to end the ConCon, effectively gaveling in and gaveling out without voting on the amendment.
Rep. John Rogers (D-Norwood) told Bay Windows that opponents of the amendment could defeat it by staying out of the chamber during the ConCon, denying the ConCon the quorum of lawmakers needed to take a vote. Such a strategy was used in 1990 to kill an amendment that would have guaranteed women the right to have an abortion.
One strategy that the MassEquality lobby team had formerly set in motion but which MassEquality says is no longer being considered was blocking the VoteOnMarriage.org amendment with another marriage amendment. In May 2005 state Sen. Jarrett Barrios (D-Cambridge) refiled an amendment to ban same-sex marriage that had been proposed by Rep. Emile Goguen (D-Fitchburg), and it now appears on the ConCon calendar one slot above the VoteOnMarriage.org amendment. The hope was that lawmakers would vote down the Goguen amendment, which requires a full majority to pass as opposed to just 50 votes, and use that vote as cover to avoid voting on the VoteOnMarriage.org amendment. Yet there is no guarantee that Travaglini will allow a vote on the Goguen amendment, and even if lawmakers vote it down there is no guarantee that they will not vote on the VoteOnMarriage.org amendment.
Q: Can Gov. Mitt Romney force lawmakers to take a vote on the amendment?
A: Romney told press June 28 that if lawmakers did not vote on the amendment he would consider taking legal action to force a vote, although he declined to speculate on what that legal challenge would look like.
Back in 1990, during debate on the aforementioned abortion amendment, then-Gov. Michael Dukakis ordered the ConCon back into session after opponents of the amendment vacated the chamber to block a quorum. Yet once the ConCon reconvened, lawmakers still failed to reach a quorum, and ultimately the ConCon ended again without a vote on the amendment, thwarting Dukakis' effort to force action on it.
Q: How many people are going to be at the State House? From the pro-gay side? From the anti-gay side?
A: As in past ConCons Solomon said MassEquality would mobilize its supporters to turn out July 12. "We are encouraging people to come to the State House on the day of the constitutional convention to show their support for marriage equality," said Solomon. "Our opponents will be there in droves and we need to be there respectfully, in a dignified way, recognizing the importance of what's taking place inside. We need to show that we continue to stand up for our rights."
As for the VoteOnMarriage.org contingent, it is likely that they will pull out all the stops to get supporters to attend. At the 2004 ConCon, amendment supporters were bused in from around the state, and once those buses left late in the day, supporters of the amendment were few and far between on Beacon Hill. Lisa Barstow, spokesperson for VoteOnMarriage.org, said it is uncertain whether the busses will be back this month.
"I don't know if any arrangements have been made to bus folks in.... Certainly we have been encouraging folks to set aside some time to be there to be a visible presence, and we expect to have a good showing," said Barstow.
Q: What can I do?
A: Up until the day of the ConCon Isaacson said it is crucial that people not only call their legislators to express their opposition to the amendment but that they ask their friends and loved ones to do the same.
"We need them to say to their friends, it would really help a lot if you called your legislators and urged them to vote against this. If every GLBT [person] did this, [talked] to 10 people, I'd guarantee we'd win, because those numbers would be overwhelmingly powerful in the State House," said Isaacson.
Solomon said MassEquality is firing all cylinders in the days leading up to the ConCon. A team of 25 canvassers is going door-to-door in districts with potentially swingable legislators seven days a week. MassEquality has also beefed up its phone-banking efforts using new technology to conduct "patch-through phone calls"; the technology allows MassEquality volunteers to call up supporters and then connect them directly to the offices of their legislators. Solomon said "hundreds if not thousands" of Bay Staters have been patched through to their legislator's office via the calls. In the days preceding the ConCon the need for more volunteer phone-bankers is urgent.
MassEquality also continues to set up meetings between same-sex married couples and lawmakers who are on the fence; couples interested in helping out can contact MassEquality to learn how to set up meetings.
And from now until the ConCon MassEquality is seeking volunteers to help collect signed postcards in opposition to the amendment at public venues throughout the state. For more information about any of these opportunities visit www.massequality.org or call 617.878.2300.
What to expect at the State House on July 12
At every ConCon there has been a large and visible LGBT presence, and this year's is likely to be no different. Here's what you need to know to attend the ConCon.
When to get there:
The ConCon is set to begin at 1 p.m., but if you want a seat inside the chamber be prepared to get there early. The seating is limited and is on a first come, first served basis. Also, if the crowd inside the State House gets large enough to reach the capacity of the building, State House security may close the building to any further entry.
Where to watch:
If you have to see the action in person, you'll want to get there early and watch it from inside the chamber. Be warned: If you get in the chamber, you'll have to keep quiet, no matter what offensive things are said by same-sex marriage opponents, and if you leave, you're not getting back inside.
In the past most attendees have watched the action via live feeds on big screen televisions in the Great Hall of the State House, but it is unclear whether that will take place this year. Ann Dufresne, spokesperson for Sen. President Robert Travaglini, who presides over the ConCon, did not return a call to comment for this story.
What not to bring:
Signs. According to building rules signs and banners are not allowed in the State House. If you feel you just have to wave a sign in support of marriage equality, you'll have to do so from outside the building.
Find out how to contact us for more information. |
