BOSTON (AP) — Gov. Mitt Romney asked Massachusetts’ highest court yesterday to force a proposed anti-homosexual “marriage” constitutional amendment onto the state’s 2008 ballot if the legislature fails to vote on it.
The Republican governor, a fierce opponent of same-sex “marriage” and a possible presidential contender, filed the request with the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court after lawmakers put off acting on the question until January. The high court ruled 4-3 in 2003 that the state could no longer deny “marriage” licenses to homosexual couples.
Mr. Romney has said the state Constitution requires legislators to vote on whether the measure should go on the ballot. If they do not vote when they return Jan. 2, the last day of the legislative session, the court can order the secretary of state to put it on the 2008 ballot, Mr. Romney argued.
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The postponement of legislative action was widely seen by supporters and opponents of same-sex “marriage” as a way to kill the measure.
Backers of the question, which would define marriage in Massachusetts as the union of a man and a woman, gathered more than 170,000 signatures.
Opponents of the question, including powerful House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi, feared they did not have the 151 votes needed to kill the measure and instead called for a vote to recess the joint House-Senate session until Jan. 2. Lawmakers approved the recess vote by 109-87.
Since same-sex “marriage” became legal, more than 8,000 homosexual couples have tied the knot in Massachusetts. The ballot measure would ban future same-sex “marriages” in Massachusetts but leave existing ones intact.
Mr. Romney, who opted not to run for a second term as governor this year, is nearing a decision on whether to seek the 2008 Republican presidential nomination.
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