Legislative support slim for same-sex marriage ban

[Eugene]

Source: Boston Globe

Legislative support slim for same-sex marriage ban
Efforts heat up to keep issue off 2008 ballot

By Frank Phillips, Globe Staff | May 17, 2007

A proposed constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriages
is clinging to a razor-thin margin in the Legislature, as major political
figures from Beacon Hill to Capitol Hill step up their attempts to kill
the measure.

With a lawmaker who opposes same-sex marriage eyeing a new job
and several others ready to switch their votes, Beacon Hill leaders
and gay political activists are convinced that they are within at
most four votes, and perhaps as few as three, of stopping the
amendment from reaching the 2008 ballot and preventing a heated
campaign that could draw energy and money away from the
Democratic Party's national efforts.

According to senior State House sources, state Representative
Brian P. Wallace, a South Boston Democrat who has voted for the
amendment, is a leading candidate for a lucrative post at the
Massachusetts Sports and Entertainment Commission, a move
supported by legislative leaders seeking to kill the amendment.
Wallace's departure from the Legislature is likely to take place
before the amendment is voted on, the sources said. Wallace did
not return calls made to his office and home.

At least four lawmakers who had initially voted for the gay marriage
ban in January have signaled that they may switch their votes, the
sources said, giving same-sex marriage supporters growing confidence
they can kill the measure and spare Massachusetts from becoming
the epicenter once again in the country's cultural wars during a
presidential election. ...

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Read more: http://www.boston.com/news/specials/gay_marriage/articles/2007/05/17/legislative_support_slim_for_same_sex_marriage_ban

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