It's time to notify your MA senator and representative . . .

[TaleWgnDg]

It's time to notify your Massachusetts senator and representative . . .

Yes, it's time to snail-mail and/or telephone and/or email and/or FAX your Massachusetts state representative and senator. Help your Massachusetts neighbors and relatives. Don't allow discrimination to appear in the Massachusetts constitution against them! The Massachusetts constitution was the first constitution in the entire world. John Adams, its author, would think it unconscionable to place discrimination in his constitution against residents of Massachusetts. Be aware the discriminatory anti-gay amendment is up again for grabs in the Massachusetts house and senate in 2005.

Take a moment, please, to read and analyze the process to amendment the Massachusetts constitution, then the Boston Globe article on the status of the anti-gay amendment as of Tuesday, January 18, 2005.

A brief overview:

1. It takes two years, back-to-back, of the combined Massachusetts house and senate (a constitutional convention) to pass the exact same bill without any changes to it, first year to second year, and then that wording (as passed in two consecutive years) is placed as a voter's question on the following (3rd) year ballot for an up or down public vote. Thus, it takes three years with the same language of the various votes to amend the Massachusetts constitution. John Adams meant it to be pensively thought-provoking and difficult to amend his Massachusetts constitution. So where are things so far as to "gay marriage" in Massachusetts?

2. So far the Goodridge v. Massachusetts Department of Public Health, 440 Mass. 309, 798 NE.2d 941 (2003) decision, which held it was unconstitutional under the Massachusetts constitution to withhold the laws of marriage from same-sex couples, has gone along smoothly without any hitches. In other words, the sky over Massachusetts has not fallen. In law, your Massachusetts same-sex neighbors and relatives have been able to marry and protect each other and their children. And, any Massachusetts religious institution may continue to refuse to marry same-sex couples because that right is protected by the federal constitution's first amendment Freedom of Religion and Separation of Church and State, as well as similar protections in the Massachusetts constitution regarding religious institutions.

3. In the spring of last year (2004), Senate President Robert E. Travaglini, D, Boston (who replaced ex-Senator Tom Birmingham, D, Chelsea) convened a constitutional convention of the joint legislature. The first step was reached to amendment the Massachusetts convention. The proposed amendment which grants marriage to opposite-sex couples only and civil unions to same-sex couples passed by a mere 4 votes in March of 2004.

4. However, since then things have changed somewhat in the Massachusetts legislature. Massachusetts is in a new legislative year, 2005. State legislative members have come and gone -- voted out, voted in, retired, resigned. For example, House Speaker Thomas Finneran, D, Mattapan is gone. He "retired." He was anti-gay (anything), frankly. Finneran has been replaced as House Speaker by former majority leader Salvatore F. DiMasi, D, East Boston, who appears to not want to place discriminatory language against gays in the Massachusetts constitution. Yes, it appears the new House Speaker DiMasi is opposed to overturning the Goodridge decision by amending the Massachusetts constitution.

5. So what happens next? Will the new President of the Senate DiMasi convene a Massachusetts constitutional convention in 2005? If so, are there enough votes to forestall the second step to a discriminatory amendment to the Massachusetts constitution? Is Senate Minority Leader, Brian P. Lees, R, East Longmeadow, who co-sponsored the anti-gay amendment in the 2004 convention, going to change his mind in 2005 and vote against the amendment? Will Senate Majority Leader Frederick E. Berry, D, Peabody, who voted against various proposed amendments in 2004 but for the final proposed amendment, change his mind as against any amendment at this convention?

The Boston Globe in a front page (albeit, below the fold) article on Tuesday, January 18, 2005, describes "what may happen next" and with variables thereof tossed in as well.

Your DU voice should be heard! This Massachusetts vote is going to be close. Don't allow discrimination in our state constitution. Notify your state representative and your state senator. Tell him/her that you do not want any amendment to our state constitution. Tell him/her that you do not want discrimination in our state constitution.

You can find your Massachusetts state senator and representative and his/her snail-mail address, email address, fax number and regular telephone number, if available, at this highlighted LINK, left-hand column, enter your 9-digit zip code or follow instructions "Don't Know Your 9-digit Zip Code?"

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .


.

[TaleWgnDg]

1. I, also, posted this message in the following DU areas:

.
I, also, posted this message in the following DU areas:

*GLBT issues

*DU General Discussions

Why did I post it in those two additional DU areas too? To reach as many DUers as possible. Because this is a serious issue that affects many people directly, gays who want to marry and their children in Massachusetts, as well as other relatives. As the BosGlobe newspaper article indicates, the vote up or down is so close in the next Massachusetts Constitutional Convention, if convened, that it's too close to call. Therefore, DUers from Massachusetts contact your state senator and representative; and non-Massachusetts DUers, pass the word around to Massachusetts DUers.

Let's keep it *kicked.* And thanks to all.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

---

[Beer Snob-50]

35. kick....

[Kathy in Cambridge]

2. kick

[Longgrain]

3. Kick

[DS1]

4. Funny, I would've suspected that if anything, the Magna Carta

was the first constitution in the world.

[WarNoMore]

5. Kick!

I plan to stay informed on this issue. As I posted once before, it completely slays me how one can consider an amendment that goes against the purpose of the Bill of Rights.

[Sydnie]

6. Kick n/t

[mom cat]

7. kick

[rox63]

8. Kickin' it!

[China_cat]

9. kick and a half

[Bombero1956]

11. Kick and three quarters

Will contact Olver.

[candy]

10. Thanks----will do!

I have great hope for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts but we must be vigilant.

I'm glad Finneran is gone for more reasons than I can name.

My state senator and state rep are okay with gay marriage but I will contact them anyway.

[TaleWgnDg]

47. The word is getting out . . . however,

.

The word IS getting out . . . however, more need to contact their Massachusetts state reps and state senators. Keep them on their toes. More emails. More FAXs. More snail mail. More telephone calls.

All the contact information is available in the OP above. Keep those contacts going out . . .

NO DISCRIMINATION IN THE MASSCHUSETTS CONSTITUTION!


"Don't Legalize Bigotry" . . . "Civil Unions = the Middle of the Bus"

---

[ET Awful]

12. Will do, mail will go out on Monday.

:kick:

[selmo7]

13. kick n/t

[YankeyMCC]

14. Got to keep up the fight

[Ian David]

15. Kick-a-tee-kick-kick-kick

Kick

[TaleWgnDg]

46. indeed !

[TaleWgnDg]

49. Indeed . . . n/t

[whalerider55]

16. kick and....

kick again. I like thinking of Massachusetts as being an island of compassion in an sea of madness.

whalerider55

[MADem]

17. More than an island of compassion....

....it's an island of SANITY, despite all the damn snow falling on it right about now.

[Atman]

18. Kickin'

Important thread!

[stepnw1f]

19. Count Me In

:kick:

[koneko]

20. Kick!

:kick:

[meegbear]

21. kick

[Ian David]

22. Kick-a-tee-kick-kick-kick

Kick-a-tee-kick-kick-kickKick-a-tee-kick-kick-kickKick-a-tee-kick-kick-kickKick-a-tee-kick-kick-kickKick-a-tee-kick-kick-kickKick-a-tee-kick-kick-kickKick-a-tee-kick-kick-kickKick-a-tee-kick-kick-kick

[skippysmom]

23. Another kick!

n/t

[graywarrior]

24. Kickity kick

[redsoxliberal]

25. kick

[Kat45]

26. kick

[thoughtanarchist]

27. kickety kickety kick

Heads up for North Central Mass DUers:



FITCHBURG, Mass. -- Boston Herald columnist Mike Barnicle has called him a "rube with a room temperature IQ," but at least Emile Goguen, a 71-year-old veteran legislator in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, has a plan. It is a quixotic plan, to be sure. To stop same-sex marriages, to put the genie firmly back in the social-experiment bottle, Goguen is trying to unseat the four justices of the state Supreme Judicial Court who voted in favor of allowing gay couples to marry.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A46834-2004May21.html

:kick:

[masshole1979]

28. Help with particularly bad state sen

My state sen is Steve Pan...we even went to same elementary, junior high school, and college...but he is extremely regressive on this issue. Does not apparently even support civil unions and filed suit with the US Sup Court to try to overturn this (obviously it failed).

How do you reach out to someone like that?

Gay marriage, by the way, is not a hot-button issue here, so he can get away with that kind of stance--it may even win him a little support from certain quarters.

[TaleWgnDg]

30. Well? Maybe . . . just maybe . . .

Well? Maybe . . . just maybe . . . Senator Pan will vote down the amendment! Why do I say that? Because you mentioned that Senator Pan was against "civil unions."

The 2004 Massachusetts Constitutional Convention (joint session of both MA houses) convened in March of 2004 then passed a proposed amendment that says both:

(1) marriage is for a man and a woman, plus
(2) civil unions are okay.

And, since the proposed amendment cannot be changed in any way from year one (2004) to year two (this being year two, 2005) by the state representatives and senators in a Constitutional Convention, your MA Senator Pan may vote it down!

Regardless, Pan still deserves telephone calls, emails, FAXs, and snail mail to let him know that anything other than leaving alone the Goodridge opinion that allowed same-sex marriage in Massachusetts, is putting discrimination in our state constitution.

"Senator Pan leave Goodridge alone, do not amend our Massachusetts constitution !! Vote 'no'."

If "Senator Steve Pan" is the same person as "Senator Steven C. Panagiotakos" then here's his contact info:

State House snail-mail addy:
Massachusetts State Senator Steven C. Panagiotakos
State House
Room 218
Boston, MA 02133

MA District Represented (FIRST MIDDLESEX): Lowell, Dunstable, Groton, Pepperell, Tyngsborough and Westford.

State House (landline) Telephone: [phone]
State House E-Mail Address: [e-mail]
State House website: http://www.mass.gov/legis/member/scp0.htm


photo from his statehouse website

masshole1979, thanks for the heads-up on this one, and welcome to DU.


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .





edited to add: I just looked up the record. How did Senator Steven C. Panagiotakos vote in the 2004 Massachusetts Constitutional Convention? He voted FOR the amendment. Again, in 2004 Pan voted to put gay discrimination in our Massachusetts constitution. This means that he may vote the very same way again, in 2005. Therefore, it is vital to get as many FAXs, emails, snail-mails, and telephone calls to him as possible. Tell him "no!" Tell him to vote AGAINST any amendment.

---

[TaleWgnDg]

38. kick . . . n/t

[TayTay]

29. Kick n/t

[graywarrior]

31. kick

[Rockholm]

32. Kick for Equality!

[whalerider55]

33. some good news re:

met with a state senator tonite- (who shall rtemain nameless because they aren't ready to go public yet).

this person thinks any chance of rolling back gay marriage is dead in the MA senate. they voted against it once because of "politics" at the Fineran level (don't get me started on FInneran, I go way back with that satanic legislator); will be "flipping" their vote now and are aware of at least five other "flips" in the senate.

apparently, without FInneran twiating arms, the legislature in MA is somewhat more inclined to move progressively instead of regressively.

I only hope that FInneran runs statewide- his goggle-eyed circus of parochial initiative won't play very well outisde of his district... i don't think.

don't fo a minute let up on this, but i am highly encouraged; this senator has been a pretty reliable and honorable person- i've worked with them on local issues, and they have always been direct, even when we disagree.

whalerider55

[Ian David]

34. kick

kick

[Cobalt Violet]

36. Kick.

:kick:

[TaleWgnDg]

37. kick . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

.

[Chuletas]

39. Mike Festa rocks...

My state rep, he came out for equality big time, got hassled quite a bit for it, but still cleaned his opponents clock in November, give him a shout out if you can. A great guy, too!

[TaleWgnDg]

40. Indeed. Michael E. Festa (Dem, Melrose) voted AGAINST . . .

.


Indeed, Festa does rock!

In 2004 Michael E. Festa, (Dem, Melrose) voted AGAINST . . . placing gay discrimination into the Massachusetts constitution. Hats off to Representative Festa !!

Festa represents the "Thirty-second Middlesex District - Consisting of the city of Melrose, and precincts 3, 4, 5 and 6, of the town of Wakfield (sic), both in the county of Middlesex." ( http://www.mass.gov/legis/member/mef1.htm)

Welcome to DU, Chuletas . . . and thanks for the heads up.

---

[candy]

41. On it's way-----Two very close friends of mine were married

here in Massachusetts last spring and I will certainly do all that I can to save their marriage.

They have been together for THIRTY FIVE YEARS !!!!!!

[TaleWgnDg]

42. attaway, candy !! . . . n/t

[TaleWgnDg]

43. Votes are needed to vote-in legislators who will uphold "gay marriage"

.
There's a Massachusetts special election . . . coming up, both primary and general election, for 3 vacant slots in the Massachusetts state House of Representatives . . . March 15th (primary) and April 12th (general).

Votes are needed to vote-in legislators who will uphold the Goodridge "gay marriage" court opinion . . .

Please see, DU states Massachusetts thread http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=158x3237


left to right, Representative Philip Travis (D., Rehoboth) gestures and confers inside the Massachusetts Statehouse with Representative Mark J. Carron (D., Southbridge), Daniel Avila of the Massachusetts Catholic Conference (anti-gay lobby), and Ron Crews (lobbying, anti-gay organizations) during the 2004 Massachusetts Constitutional Convention. Travis and Carron sponsored bills against gay marriage and voted against gay marriage.

[paineinthearse]

44. Attend a platform hearing

The Dem Party Platform hearings are coming up in the next couple weeks. Only requirement for admission is that you be a registered Dem (if not sure or to change, just go to your town or city hall). This is your opportunity to influence the platform that will be adopted in May.

Source: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DDemDispatch/message/174

Schedule

Date Town
02/19 Holyoke
02/22 Worcester
03/01 Cambridge
03/02 Ipswich
03/02 Mansfield
03/05 Amherst
03/07 Boston
03/08 Natick, South Shore & New Bedford
03/09 Brookline
03/10 Waltham

For contact info, go to http://www.massdems.org/getlocal/chairslist.cfm

[TaleWgnDg]

45. excellent suggestion, and thanks! n/t

[paineinthearse]

48. Yes, it's time to snail-mail and/or telephone and/or email and/or FAX ....

Yes, it's time to snail-mail and/or telephone and/or email and/or FAX????? I disagree. The best way to reach your rep or senator is to meet in PERSON, face to face.

Rep districts are about 4-5 towns. Senate districts are about 3x that. Most have office hours in district offices or town halls.

These people are exteremely reachable. In fact, I had a couple beers with one Saturday night.

Get connected through meet-up groups and town committees.

Get to know them first, THEN you can get away with impersonal emails and phone calls.

[TaleWgnDg]

50. 12th Suffolk, 18th Suffolk, 3rd Berkshire Democrats elected . . .

.
12th Suffolk, 18th Suffolk, and 3rd Berkshire Massachusetts Representatives, all Democrats, sworn-in at the Massachusetts Statehouse on Monday, April 25, 2005.

Wow! Talk about total success! All seats -- 3 of them -- left vacant at the Massachusetts General Court (Massachusetts House of Representatives) were filled by Democrats in the March-April 2005 Special Election!!

Here's 3 more votes in favor of same-sex marriage:



L to R, (18th Suffolk District) Michael J. Moran replaces anti-gay-voting Brian P. Golden;
(12th Suffolk District) Linda Dorcena-Forry replaces anti-gay-voting ex-House Speaker Thomas P. Finneran; and
(3rd Berkshire District) Christopher N. Speranzo replaces anti-gay-voting Peter Larkin.


_______________________________________________________________


.