MassEquality

MassEquality logo

MassEquality is a Boston-based organization that seeks to promote LGBT rights in the U.S. state of Massachusetts (see same-sex marriage in Massachusetts). Most prominently, it backs Goodridge v. Department of Public Health, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court's 2003 decision that legalized the practice, and opposes efforts to adopt an amendment to the Massachusetts Constitution seeking to water down or annul the ruling.

The coalition was formed in the late 1990s in response to the first attempts to pass in the Massachusetts state legislature a "defense of marriage act" that would have banned same-sex marriage. MassEquality was formally incorporated in late 2001 as a 501(c)4 advocacy organization, though it operated without staff until after the Goodridge decision allowing same-sex couples to receive a marriage license.

The Goodridge ruling reignited attempts to amend the Massachusetts Constitution to ban civil recognition of same-sex marriage. The coalition of organizations that formed the Steering Committee for MassEquality acted in late 2003 to hire the first staffer, Campaign Coordinator Marty Rouse. Rouse, an experienced political operative who had helped legislative supporters of civil unions in Vermont recover from losses suffered after those were enacted (see same-sex marriage in Vermont), quickly implemented a massive campaign to marshal the coalition's substantial resources and to build a strong field operation to bolster the LGBT movement's legislative lobbying.

In the wake of the Goodridge ruling, legislative debate on a "defense of marriage" amendment in Massachusetts was intense. The debate, conducted in a joint session of the Massachusetts House of Representatives and Senate (a Constitutional Convention), spanned four days over nearly two months and was carried live on C-SPAN. During that time, MassEquality identified and mobilized supporters of same-sex marriage in an attempt to defeat the proposed constitutional amendment.^[1]

On March 29, 2004, the Massachusetts legislature passed by five votes a proposed constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex marriage and provide instead civil unions for same-sex couples. This amendment, called the Travaglini-Lees amendment, was defeated in the Legislature on September 29, 2005, by a vote of 39-157, due largely to increased public support for same-sex marriage in Massachusetts and to victories by several legislative candidates supportive of same-sex marriage backed by MassEquality.^{[citation needed]}

Opponents of same-sex marriage then launched a new initiative to pass a constitutional amendment banning the practice. This new amendment sought simply to ban same-sex marriage, without creating another institution in its place. This amendment was brought as an initiative petition, requiring collection of a certain number of voters' signatures, followed by a vote of one-quarter of legislators meeting in joint session in both the 2005-2006 legislative session and the 2007-2008 session. The Massachusetts legislature adopted this amendment just before its 2005-2006 session ended, but defeated it during its 2007-2008 session.

Following the defeat of the amendment, MassEquality expanded its mission to work for equal rights and opportunities for all LGBT people from cradle to grave—in schools, in marriage and family life, at work and in retirement. Since that expansion, it helped pass a statewide anti-bullying law, convinced U.S. Senator Scott Brown to vote in favor of repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," and secured an executive order from Governor Deval Patrick prohibiting discrimination against transgender people in state agencies and state contracts. Kara Suffredini, an attorney with over a decade of LGBT policy and movement experience, was appointed executive director in 2010.

See also

LGBT portal

• LGBT rights in the United States
• List of LGBT rights organizations

References

1. ^ Bay Windows article

External links

• Official site