Group Files Ballot to Stop Gay Marriage

BOSTON -- Gay marriage opponents in Massachusetts filed a ballot initiative with the attorney general yesterday that, if passed, would amend the state constitution to ban gay marriages.

The petition states: "When recognizing marriages entered into after the adoption of this amendment by the people, the Commonwealth and its political subdivisions shall define marriage only as the union of one man and one woman."

The amendment was announced earlier this summer and has been endorsed by anti-gay family groups, Roman Catholic bishops, and Gov. Mitt Romney.

The Legislature has already given initial approval to another proposed constitutional amendment that would halt same-sex marriage but allow civil unions offering many of the same rights. If approved again this session, the amendment would go to voters in November 2006.

Anti-gay marriage groups fear that the original proposed amendment will fail because it gives voters two contradictory choices in one question, making it too confusing for the voters. Their proposed amendment makes no mention of civil unions.

The Religious Coalition for the Freedom to Marry, a gay-rights group, criticized the new ballot effort as "cruel, inhumane, mean-spirited, anti-family (and) anti-marriage."

If the ballot initiative is approved by the state attorney general, proponents gather 65,825 signatures between September and November to bring the issue to the Legislature in Constitutional Convention. It must then be approved in two joint sessions of the Legislature.

The proposed amendment could soonest be put up for vote in 2008.