Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) expressed dismay with today’s decision by the Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) perpetuating a ballot measure challenging marriage equality in Massachusetts. The ruling came in Schulman v. Reilly, a lawsuit filed by GLAD in January 2006. The suit challenged Attorney General Thomas Reilly’s certification of a proposed ballot question seeking to reverse Goodridge v. Department of Public Health.  The Goodridge decision ended marriage discrimination against same-sex couples in Massachusetts in 2004.

“While we’re clearly disappointed, this was always an uphill battle,” said GLAD Legal Director Gary Buseck, who argued the case before the SJC in May. “Despite our strong legal arguments, courts rarely rule against a sitting attorney general on these matters. The Court is inclined to err in favor of the process moving forward, leaving the fate of petitions for the legislature to decide.” 

The proposed amendment now goes to the Constitutional Convention on July 12, where it will need to receive the votes of only 50 legislators to send it to a second Convention in 2007.  There, the same 50-vote threshold would apply. If approved in both 2006 and 2007, the question will appear on the ballot in November 2008.
“We aimed to stop the ballot measure with this lawsuit, but the Legislature still can do the right thing and allow marriage equality to continue in Massachusetts,” said Lee Swislow, GLAD’s Executive Director. “As Justice Greaney wrote, ‘The only effect of a positive vote will be to make same-sex couples, and their families, unequal to everyone else; this is discrimination in its rawest form.’”

Since marriage equality came to Massachusetts in May 2004, more than 8,000 same sex couples have married.  Despite opponents’ challenges through lawsuits and ballot initiatives, support for marriage equality has grown both in the legislature and in public opinion.
Johanna Schulman, plaintiff in the case said, “I’m disappointed, but the fight is far from over.  I was able to marry the person I love after 19 years together, and when people see how ordinary our marriages are, they are ready to move on to other important issues.”

Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders is New England’s leading legal rights organization dedicated to ending discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, and HIV status.  GLAD is active in all six New England states.

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