Romney Files Suit Over Gay Marriage

Outgoing Massachusetts Governor W. Mitt Romney announced last week that he would file a lawsuit with the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) in an attempt to put an amendment banning gay marriage to a statewide referendum.

The state constitution requires that a quarter of the legislature’s 200 members approve an amendment in two consecutive sessions before it can be put to a popular vote, the final hurdle before becoming law.

However, because the measure would most likely have the support of 50 legislators, opponents have recessed the legislative session before the amendment could be voted on so as to prevent it from getting on the ballot.

The motion to recess early, which needed the backing of a majority of legislators to pass, received 109 votes, including those of Cambridge’s three legislators.

The move came as no surprise to Robert Winters, editor of the Cambridge Civic Journal and an instructor at the Extension School.

“I think they’re all lobbied extensively by certain people around town and the pressure they feel tends to come from the people who are very satisfied by going into recess the way they did.”

If the amendment clears the legislature and receives the approval of a majority of state voters, Massachusetts would lose its status as the only state in the country to allow gay couples to marry.

Romney has said he hopes to get a ruling from the SJC that will either force the legislature to vote on the amendment or place the amendment on the ballot if the current legislative session expires on Jan. 2 without a vote on the amendment.

Activitsts on both sides of the gay-marriage debate are now turning their attention to the SJC with little indication as to how it will act on Romney’s request.

“It’s anybody’s guess,” Winters said of the outcome.

“I think anybody who claims to know how it’s going to be adjudicated is just blowing steam.”