Gay marriage foes eye new petition

[shawmut]

Gay marriage foes eye new petition
Push for total ban may aim for 2008

By Frank Phillips, Globe Staff | March 30, 2005

A leading conservative group, which has been in discussion with the Romney administration, is readying a push for an outright ban on same-sex marriage in Massachusetts.

The move could significantly alter the debate on Beacon Hill over same-sex unions this year and undercut support for a compromise measure approved by the Legislature last year that outlawed gay marriage but established civil unions.

Kris Mineau, the president of the Massachusetts Family Institute, said the group plans to unveil the new strategy next month, but he would not elaborate. However, legislators said that they have been briefed by the group about a proposal to mount a new citizens petition campaign to place a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage on the 2008 ballot.

Mineau said he and his group are adamantly opposed to creating a civil unions system for gay couples. ''We've got a new strategy to deal with the situation," he said.



more ...


http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2005/03/30/gay_marriage_foes_eye_new_petition/

[kbm8170]

1. I'll bet they have a new strategy. . .

concentration camps and forced sexual re-education.

[TaleWgnDg]

5. hey, welcome to DU, kbm8170 . . . see my below post . . . n/t

[Zenlitened]

2. And to this day, they have failed to adequately answer the question: why?

Yes, I've heard all the empty prattle about "preserving traditional marriage." But that's three words strung together, not a credible argument with any meaning to it.

Just another fundie front group, carrying out their lord's work: using lies and hatred to create unrest and division.

[Tux]

3. Traditional family

Is the extended family. Until about mid-century of last century, families tended to be big and multi-generational. After WW2 with such economic advances, families could splinter off and form nuclear families.

Which is traditional they want to preserve? Nuclear families with husband, wife, a boy to continue the family name, and a daughter to control.

[TaleWgnDg]

6. See who Ron Crews' playmates are . . . my below post #4 . . . n/t

[TaleWgnDg]

4. There's quite a pile of dung that Ron Crews and his idiots must . . .

.
There's quite a pile of dung to which Ron Crews of the Massachusetts Family Institute (ex-Georgia state representative, gay-basher, fundamentalist preacher, paid Massachusetts statehouse lobbyist, and loser-by-a-mile of a recent election against U.S. Representative James McGovern, Democrat, Worcester, MA ) and other cohorts must comply.

For example, the Massachusetts Attorney General's website gives a step-by-step overview of:

"The Initiative Petition Process, 2005-2006
An Overview for Interested Members of the Public

"The initiative process is established by amendment article 48 of the Massachusetts Constitution and is a way for citizens to propose laws and constitutional amendments for approval by the electorate. The basic steps are:

(1) the initiative measure is signed by ten voters and submitted to the Attorney General by the first Wednesday in August (August 3, 2005);
(2) the Attorney General determines (usually by the first Wednesday in September, i.e., September 7, 2005) whether the measure meets the requirements of amend. art. 48;
(3) if certified by the Attorney General, the measure is filed with the Secretary of State;
(4) thousands of additional voter signatures are gathered (this year, the requirement is 65,825) and filed with local election officials by late November and then with the Secretary of State by the first Wednesday in December;
(5) if enough are gathered, the measure is sent to the Legislature in January of 2006;
(6) the Legislature either approves or disapproves the measure, proposes a substitute, or takes no action;
(7) unless the Legislature has enacted the measure before the first Wednesday in May of 2006, the proponents gather still more signatures (this year, 10,971) by early July;
(8) if they gather enough, the measure and any legislative substitute are submitted to the people at the next biennial state election (in this case, November of 2006).

"The process is similar for constitutional amendments, but they must go through two successive sessions of the Legislature and must (unlike initiative petitions for laws) get the approval of 25% of the legislators in each session. Thus any proposed constitutional amendments submitted by August of 2005 could not appear on the ballot until November of 2008."

http://www.ago.state.ma.us/sp.cfm?pageid=1246

My take on this is that Ron Crews, the s.o.b., will lie like a rug in his petition signings when it comes to the many tens of thousands of MA registered voters signatures that he will need in order to place his hateful question onto any Massachusetts ballot as an "initiative petition." After all, isn't this his usual M.O.? Indeed.


___________________________________________________________


L to R: MA Rep Philip Travis, co-sponsor of anti-gay MA constitutional amendment; MA Rep Mark Carrono; Daniel Avila paid lobbyist for the Massachusetts Catholic Conference; and Ron Crews, paid lobbyist for Massachusetts Family Institute, a gay-bashing, gay-hating "non-profit" MA corporation, a fundamentalist preacher, an ex-Georgia state representative (lobbied the Georgia Department of Education to teach creationism in the classroom), loser-by-a-mile of a recent election against U.S. Representative James McGovern, Democrat, Worcester, MA, all confer (lobby) inside the MA statehouse during the Massachusetts Constitutional Convention for anti-gay amendment, February 2004

___________________________________________________________


.