Marriage Ban Falls
Gay Marriage Supporters Celebrate

by Theo Emery, Associated Press Writer
September 14, 2005

BOSTON -- A year ago, after lawmakers first approved a constitutional ban on gay marriage, Robyn Ochs stood on the marble steps of the Nurses Halls in the Statehouse and wept.

On Wednesday, the 46-year-old teacher from Brookline was all smiles. This time, the Legislature voted down the same amendment, and she cheered and laughed as stood near where she'd been the year before, holding aloft a hand-lettered sign reading, "Thank you Massachusetts."

"Last year I was crying from frustration. This year I was crying with happiness. I think the winds have shifted in Massachusetts, and we really have support for marriage equality," she said with a broad grin.

On Wednesday, lawmakers voted 157-39 against the same amendment they had approved at the previous year's Constitutional Convention. The move halts the proposed amendment from going on a statewide ballot in 2006. The amendment was hammered out following a state Supreme Judicial Court opinion that legalized gay marriage last year.

Wednesday's vote also marks the start of a battle over a new proposal to amend the constitution with a ban on same-sex marriage. Supporters of that proposal must gain petition signatures to bring it before the Legislature, and it could go on the statewide ballot in 2008.

But many of the same-sex marriage supporters were focused on Wednesday's vote. After the amendment was defeated, Ochs was among the hundreds of gay marriage supporters who packed Nurses Hall for a rally, whooping and cheering lawmakers who took to the podium, one by one, to trumpet the vote minutes before.

"This is a great day," said Beatrice Hernandez, 44, who stood hand-in hand watching with her 50-year-old spouse, Melba Abreu, who waved a small American flag. "It's not an issue of romance. It is an issue of our civil rights."

The scene at the Statehouse on Wednesday was far different from the year before. Then, the Statehouse was packed with both supporters and opponents of gay marriage, who turned the capitol into a raucous public square, with angry words, prayers, and songs from both sides echoing through every corner of the building.

This year, it was far more orderly. Police put up ropes to cordon off hallways and other areas, relegating the public to a few areas of the Statehouse. There were also far fewer people -- several hundred, compared with thousands last year -- and the number of gay marriage opponents was tiny, numbering perhaps in the dozens.

Some gay marriage supporters came to the Statehouse early Wednesday morning. Early arrivals lined Beacon Street holding signs and banners, and some lined up after the building opened at 8 a.m. to be first to enter the House chamber where debate was scheduled began in the afternoon.

Retired school teacher Al Sunderland, 76, of Swansea, arrived later. In late morning, he gathered with about a half-dozen gay marriage opponents and passed around stickers and pamphlets, prepared to spread the word about the 2008 proposed constitutional amendment which would ban gay marriage and civil unions.

Sunderland said that though there are fewer opponents this year, "this issue has not gone away." Rather, he said, they're gearing up for the next fight, over the 2008 ballot question.

"You've got a silent majority that are just quiet," he said. "They're appalled by what's going on."

In the Great Hall, rows of people sitting cross-legged on the floor watched the debate on a large-screen TV, cheering loudly when gay marriage supporters spoke.

In the back of the room, a small number of gay marriage opponents stood in a circle in matching white T-shifts, praying and singing, mostly ignoring those at the other end of the room.

Ernestine T. Cueller, a 73-year-old retiree from Charleston, was among the small group. She said that despite the small number of gay marriage opponents at the Statehouse, "we're winning this battle."

"We might not be shouting, and yelling too much, in the rooms or in the spaces of this beautiful and magnificent Statehouse, but we certainly are crying and weeping and yelling to our Lord, who hears us. We're calling on God. He hears us. You're going to see the victory, because we've come a long, long way," she said.

As they waited for Senate President Robert Travaglini to announce the tally, a hush fell over the crowd watching the proceedings. When Travaglini announced that 157 members voted against the amendment, the crowd erupted in cheers and broke into a rendition of the "Star Spangled Banner."

Anita Saville and Emily Kay, who married last year after 22 years as a couple, embraced and wiped away tears.

"Six thousand couples got married, and the world did not come to an end," said Kay, 54. "It has had no impact on anybody else's marriage and life."

------

AP writer Michael Kunzelman in Boston contributed to this report.