Thursday, May 17, 2007

Before ConCon, Do More

If Therese Murray ever twisted an arm or not, this is the time to start. Hell, twist a nose or pull an ear, whatever. Four weeks remain to the ConCon that will allow the demon child that is the anti-marriage-equality amendment to live until the 2008 election or will send it back to the netherworld of hate where it came from and belongs.

Today's Boston Globe lead reports that the margin supporting advancing the amendment has gone from insurmountable to wee -- perhaps three or four legislators. The ground rules have not changed; only 25% of the 200 member combined General Court need approve a voter ballot initiative to put it on the ballot. That's 50 lawmakers.

Last night in Cambridge at the Courting Equality 3-years-of-SSM/book signing/celebration thingummy, three legislators gave the call to continue the fight with the June 14th ConCon looming. Rep. Alice Wolf, Sen. Jarrett Barrios, and Sen. Byron Rushing — friends all to civil rights in general and to GLBT rights in particular — exhorted the audience to finish this fight.

The three seemed to have been arranged in order of intensity. Wolf is very sincere and hopeful. She focused on the advances in the past two decades, from hard fought debates on basic gay rights to full marriage. Barrios, as always, was raw emotion. He said, "I wish this were a code, but this is just an intermission." Finally, Rushing was the orator and elegant in his rallying cry that "you and I are trying to make this experiment of democracy work."

He added that the bitter opposition to SSM is not surprising. Also, "we do know what fantastic responsibility this places on us."

He and Barrios called for active support for the major pro-SSM lobbying organizations as well as personal contact with legislators. Rushing said, "The only response we can have is to do more."

More on the Courting Equality function later.

Tags: , , , , ,

1 comment:

John Hosty said...

Our call for action has to be deafening and uninterrupted until the June 14 ConCon. I've said it before, I'd ride through the streets like Paul Revere if I could, shouting to our community, "It's Time! It's Time!"