WAPO Hopeful for Mass

The Washington Post has a spotty record of predicting legislation, as does our Boston Globe. Yesterday, in analyzing the defeat of the 2006 anti-same-sex-marriage initiative, its editorial is betting that reason and experience will mean the same for the 2008 version.

As the Post accurately notes, "public opinion is moving in the right direction, and the reason is not hard to discern: Since the high court's ruling went into effect, a lot of couples have tied the knot in Massachusetts, and, somehow, the sun has continued to rise in the east."

Our Southern buddies did not get into the sidedishes sure to be served with what they aptly call "the more draconian" 2008 measure. From our perspective:

• The small but solidly anti-gay groups are certain to campaign mightily, seeing this as their last stand
• The legislators who have a lot of ego and emotion tied up in anti-gay and anti-SSM action will lobby their fellows
• A few will try throwing scraps to the gay community, hoping to make them stop and eat quietly
• Money and volunteers will decidedly come here from out of state as this effort boils in the next three years

We predict that the Post is right, but it is not going to be easy nor quiet nor pretty.

Post Washington Post Script: Today's New York Times had a nice concluding paragraph to its editorial on the results of this week's vote and the next initiative. The editoral board wrote:

We can only hope that this new appeal to fear and bigotry will stumble over the reality, already apparent, that gay marriage is no threat to the larger community. States that rushed to ban same-sex marriages after the Massachusetts court ruling were succumbing to misplaced hysteria.