Today, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled in Doyle v. Secretary of the Commonwealth, in which Governor Mitt Romney asked the court to force the Massachusetts legislature to vote on a citizen-initiated constitutional amendment to ban marriage equality in the state.  The court declined to do so.

Lee Swislow, Executive Director of Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders, made this statement about the decision:

The court has ruled on this question repeatedly, and today’s decision is consistent with what they’ve said before: that the legislature cannot be compelled to vote. The ruling maintains the critical separation of powers between the branches of government. 

The Legislature has consistently refused to insert discrimination into the Constitution.  Legislators have not only the freedom, but the right and the responsibility to vote their conscience. It is never right for the majority to vote on the rights of minorities. 

As the court has said many times before, voters who don’t like what their legislators are doing can vote them out of office.  Voters have in fact returned pro-equality legislators to office, and have voted anti-equality legislators out.  Massachusetts voters have clearly told the Legislature how they feel about this issue: Massachusetts voters support marriage equality.

Marriage equality has been good for Massachusetts, its families, and its communities.  The right and the ability of same-sex couples to marry is now part of the social and legal landscape of our state.  It’s here for good, and it is time for everyone to move on.

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 lawsuits that led to marriage equality in Massachusetts in 2004 and civil unions in Vermont in 2000.

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