Boston Bar Association Urges Preservation of Goodridge Decision

BOSTON, June 13, 2007 -- As the Massachusetts Legislature prepares to meet on June 14 for a final vote on an anti-gay marriage ballot amendment, Boston Bar Association President Jack Cinquegrana issued the following statement:

“The Boston Bar Association has always spoken out against discrimination.  When we filed our amicus brief in Goodridge, supporting the seven same sex couples seeking the right to marry, we argued that denying them civil marriage licenses violated the Massachusetts Constitution.  When the Supreme Judicial Court ruled that the Massachusetts Constitution requires that same sex couples be permitted the right to civil marriage, we applauded that decision as a landmark civil rights victory.

We find it profoundly disturbing today to witness repeated proposals to dismantle the Goodridge decision and write discrimination into the Massachusetts Constitution.  The Massachusetts Constitution must never be the vehicle for limiting individual rights, and its protection of gay and lesbian couples, given full expression by Goodridge, must never be eroded.  Once again we urge the Constitutional Convention to defeat this amendment.”