Today, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court heard oral arguments in Doyle v. Secretary of the Commonwealth.  In the case, Governor Mitt Romney, one of the plaintiffs, asks the Court to force the Massachusetts legislature to vote on the merits a citizen-initiated constitutional amendment to ban marriage equality in the state.

Lee Swislow, Executive Director of Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) , made this statement following arguments:  

For decades, in case after case, this Court has recognized that the Massachusetts Constitution does not specifically require a merits vote on a citizen amendment.  The Court has repeatedly affirmed the legislature’s authority to act on citizen amendments in accord with its normal procedural rules.  This case asks the Court to impose new standards and forbid the legislature from using their own procedural rules on citizen-initiated constitutional amendments. 

Legally, there is nothing new in this case.  The questions asked by the plaintiffs have been answered by the Supreme Judicial Court consistently and repeatedly over the years.    We see this action for what it is – an attempt to change the rules and create more onerous burdens just because it is the rights of a minority at issue. 

The Legislature’s actions have not only been constitutional, but courageous and correct. They have refused to be bullied or intimidated, and we fully expect them to keep standing up for what’s right. The plaintiffs say they favor citizen input into this matter, but they have ridiculed the idea that the ballot box – that is voting out members who disagree with them -- provides them a remedy.  Just because they cannot elect a majority in the legislature that favors taking away rights from gay people doesn’t mean the courts should change decades of case law and change the rules of the constitutional convention.

It is simply wrong to put the rights of a minority up for a popular vote.  That’s what this is about.  Marriage equality is now part of our social and legal landscape in Massachusetts.  We cannot and should not turn back the clock, or create a system in which legislators have to leave their common sense or good judgment off the convention floor.

Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders is New England's leading legal rights organization dedicated to ending discrimination based on sexual orientation, HIV status and gender identity and expression.  GLAD brought the lawsuit, Goodridge v. Department of Public Health, which ended marriage discrimination against same-sex couples in Massachusetts.

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