BOSTON - Supporters of same-sex marriages celebrated and opponents cried foul as the Legislature yesterday essentially killed a proposed constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.
Lawmakers again avoided taking a formal stand on a citizen-driven effort for a constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriage, recessing a Constitutional Convention instead of taking up the thorny issue.
They will meet again Jan. 2, the last day this current Legislature is in session. If lawmakers don't approve it then, the proposed amendment cannot make it onto the 2008 ballot and proponents who gathered 170,000 signatures to get it before the Legislature will have to start all over again.
The House and Senate, meeting together yesterday for a Constitutional Convention, voted 109-87 for the recess. The North of Boston delegation split, with 10 in favor and 10 against.
"This is over. It's over," said Arline Isaacson of the Massachusetts Gay and Lesbian Political Caucus.
Kris Mineau of the Massachusetts Family Institute, which supports the measure, said the Legislature was "thumbing its nose" at the state Constitution.
Pro-gay marriage demonstrators cheered, hugged and screamed throughout the State House following the late-afternoon vote. A large crowd in Nurses Hall clapped and yelled for legislators who had voted to recess, some of whom blew kisses to the crowd and waved from the third-floor railing. Grace Ross, the Green-Rainbow gubernatorial candidate whose campaign ended Tuesday, also drew loud cheers.
At the same time, anti-gay marriage activists walked through the halls and jeered legislators who voted for the motion as "traitors."
Rep. Michael A. Costello, D-Newburyport, spent the hours leading up to the Constitutional Convention working to get a majority of the 196 legislators to vote for the recess. Costello characterized the tally as a vote protecting marriage rights and not one avoiding responsibility.
"It's a good day for gay marriage proponents and a bad day for gay marriage opponents," Costello said.
House Minority Leader Bradley H. Jones Jr., R-North Reading, said it was a bad day for democracy.
"I think it is disappointing that the majority of my colleagues didn't see fit to comply with what I see as the requirements of the Constitution to have a vote," said Jones, who opposes gay marriage.
Indeed, gay marriage supporters believed the amendment would pass if allowed to a vote. It needed just 25 percent of the legislators present yesterday to move on to the next session, and if passed then, it would have made it onto the 2008 ballot.
Costello said the delaying strategy prevented Gov. Mitt Romney, who backs a vote on the amendment, from getting involved.
The Legislature could have opted to adjourn rather than take up the amendment, but Romney could have forced them to reconvene. Lawmakers can now wait out Romney, whose successor, Deval Patrick, supports gay marriage and is opposed to putting it to a vote.
Romney hastily called a press conference and said he would take whatever legal options available to him to prod legislators to vote, but acknowledged he has little recourse.
"My options are limited, but we will explore any other alternative that may exist to protect the constitutional rights of our citizens," said Romney, who did not mention specific actions he intends to take.
Asked if he would try to appeal the decision through the Supreme Judicial Court, Romney said, "I will consider the widest array of options that lawyers think have a reasonable prospect of being successful."
Rep. Barbara A. L'Italien, D-Andover, said lawmakers were taking a vote of conscience.
"I believe the amendment was going to write discrimination into the Constitution, and that was fundamentally wrong," L'Italien said.
The Legislature this year has recessed three times without taking up gay marriage.
Sen. Frederick E. Berry, D-Peabody, told the Eagle-Tribune Publishing Co. on Wednesday that legislative leaders would "not play any games" and have a vote on the amendment. But, Berry yesterday voted for the recess. He could not be reached in his office following the vote or at his home.
Lawmakers yesterday considered two amendments to reverse a 2003 Supreme Judicial Court ruling that legalized gay marriage and made Massachusetts the first state to recognize same-sex unions.
One amendment would undo the more than 8,000 gay marriages performed since then. It was defeated unanimously
The other amendment went before the Legislature after gay marriage opponents submitted the 170,000 signatures. It would have barred future gay marriages.
After the Constitutional Convention was gaveled shut, gay marriage backers poured out of the House gallery and flooded Nurses Hall, loudly cheering a handful of legislators who'd remained after the vote.
Kris Mineau, president of the Massachusetts Family Institute, lambasted lawmakers for not voting on the gay marriage amendment.
"All we're asking, plain and simple, is the duly elected representatives do their job in accordance with the Constitution," Mineau said. "Continued recessing is not upholding the Constitution."
He said his group and other gay marriage opponents would investigate their options. But they would definitely have another go at outlawing gay marriage through the ballot.
"Absolutely we'll be back," Mineau said.
Gay marriage amendments weren't the only ones considered yesterday but they were the ones that brought scores of people to Beacon Hill.
From early yesterday morning, gay marriage supporters and foes lined separate sides of Beacon Street leading up to the Statehouse, waving signs, chanting loudly and yelling back and forth at each other.
Julie Webster, a Merrimac mother of two young children, said she worries about the cultural impact of recognizing same-sex marriage.
"They want my children to learn about homosexuality at school," Webster said. "They want to indoctrinate our children."
Michael Courtemanche of Methuen arrived at the Statehouse gates at 4:45 a.m. Standing across from gay marriage opponents, Courtemanche, said he doesn't understand why his desire to marry affects other people.
Correspondent Ana Rivas contributed to this report.
Vote to recess the Constitutional Convention until Jan. 2, 2007
Name%vote
Rep. Arthur Broadhurst, D-Methuen%Yes
Rep. Michael Costello D-Newburyport%Yes
Rep. Brian Dempsey, D-Haverhill%No
Rep. Barry Finegold, D-Andover%Yes
Rep. Mary Grant, D-Beverly%Yes
Rep. Bradford Hill, R-Ipswich%No
Rep. Bradley H. Jones, R-North Reading%No
Rep. John Keenan, D-Salem%Yes
Rep. William Lantigua, D-Lawrence%No
Rep. Barbara L'Italien, D-Andover%Yes
Rep. Douglas Petersen, D-Marblehead%Yes
Rep. Theodore C. Speliotis D-Danvers%Yes
Rep. Joyce Spiliotis, D-Peabody%No
Rep. Harriett Stanley, D-West Newbury%No
Rep. David M. Torrisi, D-North Andover%Yes
Rep. Anthony Verga, D-Gloucester%No
Sen. Steven A. Baddour, D-Methuen%No
Sen. Frederick E. Berry, D-Salem%Yes
Sen. Bruce E. Tarr, R-Gloucester%No
Sen. Susan C. Tucker, D-Andover%No
