R
Riley259
Guest
The organization VoteonMarriage.org sponsored a petition to vote on gay marriage and collected 170,000 signatures of which 124,000 were certified (over twice what was required and a record setting number for petitions in Massachusetts). However, as promised, gay activists have posted all the signatories with names and addresses on a website called knowthyneighbor.org. They had threatened to do this months in advance of the petition and by the numbers generated, it didn’t seem to deter people from signing. However, this posting of names by this group is clearly a transparent attempt at intimidation in an effort to “out” those that signed. Shame on them for posting the names but gladly it didn’t seem to work! Because the petition passed, the next hurdle is that 25% of the legislators have to pass the amendment in two consecutive sessions before it goes for a vote by the people in 2008. It’s sounds like a long time to wait but it will be worth it if it gives the people a chance to have their say. By the way, the same process occurred in 2002 and it passed then easily as well but the state Senate president at the time (Tom Birmingham) refused to bring it to a vote and as a result usurped the democratic process. The new Senate president has already said that he will bring it to a vote when the time comes. Pray that there will ultimately be a positive result.