Massachusetts GOP aiding drive for ban on gay marriage

[Zenlitened]

Mass. GOP aiding drive for ban on gay marriage

By Stephanie Ebbert, Globe Staff | November 18, 2005

The state Republican Party, despite its officially neutral stance on gay marriage, has been drafting Republicans to gather signatures for a proposed ban on same-sex marriage and plans to use the petition drive to identify supporters for the 2006 elections.

Signaling a rightward shift under the leadership of Governor Mitt Romney, Republican strategists have sent numerous e-mails since September to party members asking them to help opponents of same-sex marriage collect signatures for the proposed ban. Sponsors of the ban are due to turn over the names to city and town clerks next week.

(snip)

''We will be helping Vote on Marriage to collect the . . . signatures needed to move the gay marriage ballot initiative forward," said one GOP e-mail dated Oct. 11. ''If you would like to help with this effort, please contact the regional coordinator for your area. Gay marriage is just one issue that we will be using to ID voters for the 2006 election cycle."

Another e-mail, dated Sept. 29 and obtained yesterday by the Globe, said: ''The MassGOP is continuing its effort to collect signatures for the Vote on Marriage ballot initiative this Saturday, Oct. 1st."

more:
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2005/11/18/mass_gop_aiding_drive_for_ban_on_gay_marriage/?page=full

Creates a rather strange alliance, in terms of the old rules in Massachusetts. Right-wing church, meet right-wing party:

Catholic churches lead signature drive for ban on gay marriage

By Michael Kunzelman, Associated Press Writer | October 3, 2005

BOSTON --The campaign to end gay marriage has found traction in the state's churches, with thousands of Catholics and other worshippers lending their signatures to a petition drive seeking to abolish same-sex unions in Massachusetts.

With the backing of the state's four Roman Catholic bishops, opponents of gay marriage set up shop at more than 200 churches across this heavily Catholic state (on Sunday), and some Protestant churches also joined in the effort.

"It just seems so strange for me to stand here today and preach what I think is so obvious: Marriage is between a man and a woman," said the Rev. Walter Waldron, pastor of St. Patrick Church in Boston's Roxbury neighborhood, who used his Sunday homily to rally support for the ballot initiative.

(snip)

Organizers said they had collected about 25,000 signatures since Sept. 21, The Boston Globe reported Monday, including thousands gathered at churches over the weekend. They must collect more than 65,000 signatures before Nov. 23 for the question to qualify for the 2008 ballot, but sponsors hope to gather double that number to protect against a challenge.

more:
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2005/10/03/catholic_churches_lead_signature_drive_for_ban_on_gay_marriage/

[shenmue]

1. Happiness threatens national security!

Even though there is no official religion, we must act like there is!

:sarcasm:

Jimony, will these people just lighten up?!

:banghead:

:cry:

[maximovich]

2. Give It Up Already

you weird-ass homophobic closet cases.

[Stevious]

3. tax the church!

:wtf:

[Beer Snob-50]

4. This does not bode well for mitt's chances for reelection

andI think it will do much to end the GOP stranglehold on the Governors office.

Up to this point many democrats have thought of the Mass Gop as Socially Moderate but this will scare them back to the democratic side.

[Zenlitened]

5. Yep. The "Bill Weld Model" of republican governor...

... has been discontinued. Hell, after he left office in Massachusetts, the national repukes all but drummed him out of the party.

There's no place in the GOP for moderates of any type. It's the party of Big-Brother government, foreign adventurism, crippling debt and out-of-control spending.

[Beer Snob-50]

6. isn't bill running for governor of new york now?

just curious.

[Zenlitened]

7. Is he really? I thought that was just cocktail party conversation.

:wow:

[Beer Snob-50]

8. that it what i heard

maybe it was just conversation.....

[SomewhereOutThere424]

9. Wouldn't matter

We'sa true blue state. We already prefer the democrat -- and he sunk himself by promoting the use of semi automatic assault weapons for casual hunting (something most of us are against, being illegal hunting happens less than 100 yards from houses all the time here).

Pataki ruined the chance of another republican governor, he fucked up bad.

[Der Blaue Engel]

17. This gets me thinking

Instead of liberals threatening to leave the Democratic party for a more left third party that guarantees that the unified right will win every election even without fraud...why don't we encourage conservatives to leave the extreme right Republican party and form their own third party of moderates?

[Beer Snob-50]

18. i think it is a great idea

let's face it, the conservative branch of the republican party is far from true conservatism. you would think the george wills of our world would want to leave the party.

[SomewhereOutThere424]

10. Everyone should remind the voters

These guys don't put their money where their mouth is, as the vice president's daughter and possibly any other GOP homosexual is going to be exempt from this. Or just the fact there are GOP homosexuals should make them reconsider.

[Ian David]

11. Republicans exploit gay issue; Fracture party

Republicans exploit gay issue; Fracture party

Darrell Crate, chairman of the Massachusetts Republican Party, appears to have made a back-room deal with sponsors of the anti-gay marriage petition to collect as many as 25% of the required signatures in exchange for access to the final database of names. Stacks of anti-gay marriage petitions attached to clipboards were handed out as early as September 22 at a Republican State Committee meeting.

MassGOP involvement in the anti-gay marriage amendment was not suspected to be this substantial as the Party is not an official supporter of the petition and many Republicans do not support the proposed amendment which is even more conservative than the one voted down by the Massachusetts legislature in September.

KnowThyNeighbor.org has been in touch with several angered Party members who feel that Crate's decision was made unilaterally and that he overstepped his bounds by not calling for a vote on the issue.

KnowThyNeighbor.org called Darrell Crate's office and spoke with MassGOP staffer Mark Rowe. When asked about involvement with the anti-gay marriage petition, Mr. Rowe initially tried to gloss over the issue saying that the Republican Party is very diverse and that the topic of same-sex marriage is "never discussed." He even went on to state that Darrell Crate respects both sides of the issue.

Upon being reminded that it was Crate who went door to door to Republican legislators during the 2004 ConCon's asking them to vote for the nastiest of the anti-gay marriage amendments, Mr. Rowe stated that Darrell Crate (who was hand-picked by Mitt Romney for his current position) was only acting on behalf of the Governor. As if Governor Romney isn't making a stand on the marriage petition now?
http://www.boston.com/news/specials/gay_marriage/articles/2004/02/12/two_marriage_amendments_fail_lawmakers_to_reconvene_today/

<snip>

We encourage you to contact Republican State Senators and Representatives to let them know how you feel about the issue and to find out to what extent they are complicit in this secret deal. Contact the Democrats too to make sure they know what's going on and to urge them to talk with their Republican peers. If you know anyone that is a contributor to the Massachusetts Republican Party, let them know how their money is being spent and encourage them to contact Mr. Crate with their dissatisfaction:

Darrell W. Crate, [e-mail]
tel: [phone] fax: [phone]

More:
http://knowthyneighbor.blogs.com/home/2005/11/massgop_chair_s.html

[MalachiConstant]

12. i'm not sure if this is the same group of people,

but one of the local fox channels recently taped a group of petitioners in a grocery store parking lot. they were telling people the petition was to legalize the sale of wine in grocery stores. most people believed them and didn't find out that it was to ban gay marriage until afterwards.

[MalachiConstant]

13. ah,

i found a link:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=158x7104

[Zenlitened]

14. Peddling their bigotry with lies, as usual.

It's the common denominator in virtually everything the right-wing pushes. They have to distort, twist and deceive in order to sell their crap to the voters.

All the more reason voters must take the trouble to get informed -- something as simple as reading what you're signing -- because we are dealing with professional liars.

:grr:

[MalachiConstant]

16. you're not going to find any disagreement from me

[progressivebydesign]

15. Why don't those worms crawl back under a rock.

I really do hate those people. Who died and made them the judge for everyone's life? WTF do they care? I mean.. really? Why is it so important for them to control everyone's lives? If they don't like Gay Marriage, abortion, a deep thought, then don't have one. :grr:

[ninkasi]

20. I feel the same way

If they disapprove of Gay marriage, don't have one. They don't seem to realize that once we start passing laws designed to inflict personal views on other people, they also open the possibility that changing social views might put their own lives in danger of being interfered with.

By trying to insist that the reason they oppose Gay marriage is that it is the business of the government to protect the "san city" of marriage...and it isn't...what happens if a group gets together and passes a law to prevent a person from remarrying after having, say, three divorces? That person might be viewed as dangerous to "sanctity of marriage", either through poor judgment, poor morals, or whatever other ridiculous phrase they want to present it.

In addition to denying equal rights to a group of people who only want the same right the rest of us possess, they are also, in my opinion, setting up a dangerous precedent, where narrow minded people with other pet issues might jump on the bandwagon to ban all sorts of other behavior.

Many, many Republicans have had multiple marriages, and displayed really, really poor morals while cheating on spouses, having affairs, divorcing wives recovering from cancer, and informing said spouse in her hospital room; I really don't think they have any right to dictate behavior for the rest of us. They make me want to
:puke:

[GoddessOfGuinness]

19. Headline should read:

"Mass. GOP aiding drive to mind everyone else's business"

[dback]

21. I am SO DAMN SICK AND TIRED OF THESE PEOPLE.

I'm sorry for yelling, but I just left California, where as many of you know, the Governator just vetoed a bill that PASSED THE STATE LEGISLATURE, which would've OK'd same-sex marriage in the state.

Now I live in Oregon, where a judge just upheld the religious right's efforts to change the state constitution to outlaw gay marriage here.

And now Massachusetts, the one state where there ARE full marriage rights, and it IS working, and NO ONE IS BEING HURT BY THIS--certainly not any of these straight married "Christians"--some busybodies who are intent on making the world in their own image are determined to overturn all of the good works that have been done over the past 2+ years.

I am so exhausted and emotionally fried by this relentless, unstoppably pounding by a bunch of intolerant zealots. How long, oh Lord, how long? (When the black community says that it doesn't appreciate the gay community's riding their "coattails" in the civil rights struggle, this is Case #1 I'd cite: the belief that you are somehow "less than human" or "less than a citizen" in the eyes of the law.)

Aside from never setting foot in a Catholic church again, and continuing to write letters and donating time and money, I don't know what else to do anymore.

[Moderator]

22. kick

[Judi Lynn]

23. Mass. GOP aiding drive for ban on gay marriage

Mass. GOP aiding drive for ban on gay marriage
Some in party voice objections
By Stephanie Ebbert, Globe Staff | November 18, 2005

The state Republican Party, despite its officially neutral stance on gay marriage, has been drafting Republicans to gather signatures for a proposed ban on same-sex marriage and plans to use the petition drive to identify supporters for the 2006 elections.

Signaling a rightward shift under the leadership of Governor Mitt Romney, Republican strategists have sent numerous e-mails since September to party members asking them to help opponents of same-sex marriage collect signatures for the proposed ban. Sponsors of the ban are due to turn over the names to city and town clerks next week.

Romney has repeatedly emphasized his opposition to gay marriage as he prepares for a potential run for president, but the Massachusetts Republican Party platform, drafted in 2002 before same-sex marriage was legalized, does not address the subject. A state committeewoman complained yesterday that members were not consulted on the party's involvement, but the state GOP's executive director emphasized that the party's strategy should not be read as an endorsement of the ban.
(snip/...)

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2005/11/18/mass_gop_aiding_drive_for_ban_on_gay_marriage/

[Arkana]

24. This just in: Mass GOP will fail. Miserably.

Nice try, but MA is just too liberal.

[TygrBright]

25. Good. Let 'em try.

There's an old saying about pitchers and wells that seems particularly apt here. Massachussetts is just the well to bust this particular pitcher to smithereens, and not before time. Talk about stuck records...

wearily,
Bright