Greens Hail the Massachusetts Court Ruling On Same

Greens Hail the Massachusetts Court Ruling On
Same-Sex Marriage

Religious extremists plan to vilify gay Americans
with a Federal Marriage Amendment, warn Lavender
Greens.

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Greens praised the decision
on Tuesday by the Supreme Judicial Court of
Massachusetts challenging restrictions against
the right of same-sex couples to marry.

Greens note that the court said the state "failed
to identify any constitutionally adequate reason
for denying civil marriage to same-sex couples"
and ordered the legislature to come up with a
solution within 180 days.

"The ruling overturns the second-class
citizenship of gay people, which is a huge leap
forward," said Starlene Rankin, Lavender Green
Caucus delegate to the Green Party of the United
States. "But it stops just short of recognizing
same-sex marriages. We're concerned that the
Massachusetts legislature will come up with
language that confirms the restriction of
marriage rights to different-sex couples,
possibly through an amendment to the state
constitution, as the the Hawaii State Supreme
Court did three years ago."

Members of the Lavender Green Caucus are urging
Greens and friends in Massachusetts to contact
state legislators. The caucus represents gay,
lesbian, bi, transgender, intersexed, and queer
members of the Green Party of the United States.

"We demand legal language that opens up the
definition of family, and an end to laws
restricting marriage and all its rights,
privileges, and benefits to one-man-one-woman
couples," said Brandon Lacy Campos, chair of the
Lavender Green Caucus. "We must address this
demand to all state legislators, and to Congress
and the White House, too."

Greens are warning of a vicious backlash by
antigay forces, including a Federal Marriage
Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would
define marriage as a union between a man and a
woman. President Bush has indicated he would
back such an effort.

"For me, restriction of same-sex marriage rights
is a question of religious discrimination as well
as anti-gay bias," said Owen Broadhurst, a
Massachusetts Green-Rainbow Party member. "To
define marriage in terms established only by more
politically powerful religions amounts to law
respecting an establishment of religion in the
most personal and intimate of relationships and
kinship."

"Such an amendment would be the first time the
U.S. Constitution was used to vilify and roll
back rights for a class of Americans," said Grace
C. Ross, co-chair of the Green-Rainbow Party of
Massachusetts. "Having realized that they will
never succeed in outlawing abortion rights
categorically, extremists who want their
religious beliefs enacted as law plan to target
gay people in the next election. Shame on
President Bush for joining them; shame on
President Clinton for encouraging them by signing
the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act. In the
struggle for any civil rights, there have always
been repressive forces that try to roll back the
march toward justice for all. While they
sometimes succeed in the short run, may the
Massachusetts decision be a reminder that if we
keep fighting for justice, ultimately we will
prevail."

MORE INFORMATION

The Green Party of the United States
http://www.gp.org
1700 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 404
Washington, DC 20009.
202-319-7191, 866-41GREEN
Fax 202-319-7193

Lavender Green Caucus
http://www.lavendergreens.org

Green-Rainbow Party of Massachusetts
http://www.massgreens.org/