During a joint session of the Massachusetts House and Senate this Thursday, a proposed amendment that would ban gay marriage is to be considered.
The AP reports: “They have three options: send the question to voters next year, kill it or postpone the vote. Both sides have pumped thousands of dollars into television, radio, Internet and telephone campaigns. Amendment supporters accuse Governor Patrick of trading job offers for votes, something Patrick denies.”
Patrick has been campaigning heavily against the amendment, saying he will force a postponement if he sees a vote coming without enough support to kill it. He also appeared in last week's Gay Pride parade in Boston, the first Massachusetts governor to march at the event.
Now, former Massachusetts Governor William Weld has also come out against the amendment:
“Weld, in the Statehouse on behalf of Lehman Brothers, an investment banking firm, said: ‘I hope it doesn't go on the ballot.' He said if a constitutional convention votes Thursday to allow the measure on the November 2008 ballot, ‘I think it's going to be a distraction for the next 18 months.' Weld was an avid supporter of gay rights while serving as governor from 1991 to 1997, and he later attended the wedding of his former chief of staff, Kevin Smith, who is gay. Yet in 2005, while gearing up for a gubernatorial campaign in New York, Weld was quoted in the New York media that he did not support gay marriage beyond his former state.”
Patrick has agreed that such a ballot initiative would create a “circus”.
