Saturday, May 12, 2007

Fighting Words from the AG on Amendment

Imagine, a Massachusetts Attorney General with courage and a respect for civil rights! Our last one certainly failed those tests, but Martha Coakley is loud and righteous.

I'm about to be out of touch for four or five days. I can't even eat Saturday breakfast without interruption. Well, bless the Globe for being the first to cover her speech to the Massachusetts Lesbian & Gay Bar Association. Key in her remarks was the promise to fight the anti-marriage-equality amendment.

Do-nothing, stand-for-nothing AG Tom Reilly could have stopped this flagrant effort to overturn a Supreme Judicial Court decision early on, but did nothing and stood for nothing. In contrast, Coakley says she's ready if this year's ConCon advances the amendment. As she put it:
"I think we can easily anticipate that if the proposed amendment was successful, there would be protracted, hard-fought litigation about the constitutionality of such a provision. If that battle is necessary, you have my support."
On the good side, that makes four top leaders with the governor, speaker of the house and senate president saying they do not want to strip existing civil rights from any minority. In another contrast to the anti-gay forces, she added that since over 17,000 homosexuals have joined in over 8,500 marriages:
"The institution of marriage is alive and well in the Commonwealth. It has been made more inclusive. I think a seamless integration of an ancient institution with the modern but welcome recognition of the reality of the diversity of sexual orientation has made our state stronger."
Coakley said that her office's civil-rights division is preparing responses, if necessary.

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