At Least Deval Showed Some Guts

Deval Patrick must have had two press releases available, depending on Attorney General Tom Reilly's ruling on the 2008 anti-gay-marriage initiative. Unfortunately for the state, he had to send out the scolding one.

Deval's response was curt and correct:

I am disappointed in the Attorney General's decision, but not surprised. He has had more than one chance to show leadership and political courage on this issue over the last few years and he has failed every time.

The SJC got it right. By ruling in favor of same sex marriage, the Court affirmed that everyone comes before their government as equals. Equality before the government and the law is a central value of our society. Because I am committed to those values I hoped the Attorney General would make a different decision. We need to move on to more pressing issues.

He's right too that Reilly diddled with this too long. Now we face considerable turmoil. We should not be about cherry picking civil rights. We should not be about enabling one group to strip civil rights already in place for our citizens.