Massachusetts blocks anti-gay marriage ban

The vote Thursday — which came amid heavy pressure to kill the measure from Gov. Deval Patrick and legislative leaders — was a devastating blow to efforts to reverse a historic 2003 court ruling legalizing same-sex marriage.

“Today’s vote is not just a victory for marriage equality. It was a victory for equality itself,” said Patrick, who had lobbied lawmakers up until the final hours to kill the measure.

As the tally was announced, the halls of the Statehouse erupted in applause.

The ban needed 50 votes in consecutive sessions of the 200-seat Legislature to secure a place on the 2008 statewide ballot. At the end of the last session in January it passed with 62 votes, but this time it garnered just 45.

“We’re proud of our state today, and we applaud the Legislature for showing that Massachusetts is strongly behind fairness,” said Lee Swislow, executive director of Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders.

More than 8,500 gay couples have married there since it became legal in May 2004.

Kris Mineau, president of the Massachusetts Family Institute that backed the amendment, questioned the legality of what he said was rampant horse trading in the final hours, saying there was “tremendous pressure and we believe some tremendous incentives” to flip votes.

Nine legislators who had voted for advancing the amendment in January changed their votes Thursday, but Patrick said he made no deals, other than to agree to appear at fundraisers for lawmakers who opposed the amendment.

Outside the Statehouse on Thursday, hundreds of people rallied on both sides of the issue.

“We believe it’s unconstitutional not to allow people to vote on this,” said Rebekah Beliveau, a 24-year-old Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary student who stood with fellow college-age amendment supporters across the street from the Statehouse.

Across the road, gay marriage advocates stood on the front steps of the capital waving signs that read, “Wrong to Vote on Rights” and “All Families Are Equal.”

Jean Chandler, 62, of Cambridge, came with fellow members of her Baptist church in an effort to rebuff the image that strict followers of the Bible are opposed to gay marriage.

“I think being gay is like being left-handed,” Chandler said. “If we decided left-handed people couldn’t marry, what kind of society would we be?”

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