GLAD sues AG Reilly re same sex marriage ballot initiative

[TaleWgnDg]

(Gay) Rights group sues to prevent Massachusetts (anti-same-sex) marriage ballot initiative

Joshua Pantesco, Jurist News, Tuesday, January 3, 2005, at 2:34 PM ET

(Jurist News) Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders (GLAD) (advocacy website) filed a complaint (.pdf format; GLAD press release) Tuesday against Massachusetts Attorney General Tom Reilly (official website), seeking to overturn Reilly's September decision (.rft format) to allow a ballot initiative banning same-sex marriage (JURIST news archive) to proceed. GLAD argues that according to the state constitution, ballot initiatives cannot overturn a previous court decision, a power delegated exclusively to the state legislature. The complaint cites the landmark ruling in Goodridge v. Dept. of Public Health (opinion text), which ended state discrimination against gay couples, as decided law, which therefore cannot be the subject of a ballot initiative. After Reilly upheld the legality of the ballot initiative (JURIST report) last September, proponents collected (JURIST report) over 124,000 certified signatures, far more than the 64,000 required for the issue to appear on the 2008 ballot. The proposed constitutional amendment (.rft format) reads: "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." AP has more.

. . . more at . . . http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2006/01/rights-group-sues-to-prevent.php
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Other recent DU threads have related posts:

1. DU GLBT - http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=221x24032
2. DU Massachusetts - http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=158x7387

[paineinthearse]

1. Screw O'Reilly & Galvin - throw the bums out

These hobophobic and uncaring "gentlemen" do not deserve the public trust to uphold the Mass Constitution and protect civil rights.