All SSM, All the Time

Today's Boston Globe is the same-sex marriage edition. Click over for:

• There is no hope. The election of Deval Patrick as governor means nothing to the ConCon.
• Sinful Sal to pull trick. Speaker of the House Salvatore DiMasi will lead an adjournment before the main anti-SSM amendment arises.
• Voting on civil rights sucks. The lead editorial calls the spiteful amendment what it is.

Some key points to consider for today's joint legislative session are:

1. An adjournment is easier than a straight defeat, requiring only 101 of 200 votes instead of 151.
2. Adjourning without voting on item 20 would put POTUS-hungry Mitt Romney in the spot of drawing attention to his complicity by inaction on the whole SSM issue if he calls the ConCon back into session. He can order them to the State House, but can't make 'em vote.
   
3. At least 50 legislators may play this cynically, voting yes on 20 this time, knowing it will go down in flames next year.

Longer-term, the General Court and the MSM are not stressing the underlying issues. As Patrick said numerous times during his campaign, the civil rights of a minority is never the fit subject for a plebiscite.

The solution is simple and needs to be at the top of the agenda for the new legislature -- reform the ballot-initiative process to return it to its original noble purpose, as a check against legislative errors of judgment.

In addition, the existing prohibition against an initiative intended to reverse a court decision should have prevented this divisive move from getting this far. That is the reeking legacy of Attorney General Tom Reilly in permitting it. Shame on the incompetent and amoral officials such as he.

This dreadful piece of theocractic bigotry should lose today. We don't need one or two more years of playing this game with the hate mongers.

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Tags: massmarrier, Massachusetts, amendment, same sex marriage, ConCon