The Lessons Of Vermont May Help In Massachusetts [Try Some Vaseline Dearie]

The Boston Globe ^ | 11/26/2003 | David Moats

[johnny7]

AS THE COMMONWEALTH wades into the volatile politics of gay marriage, the people of Massachusetts ought to prepare themselves for a political furor unlike anything they have experienced before. But if Vermont's experience four years ago can serve as an example, the state has a chance to grow, learn, and establish new standards of equality and understanding.

[Thebaddog]

I'm dying to read about some transgender types lining up to be "married" in the Commonwealth. Let the freak show begin, and keep them away from my backyard here in plain old midwest Chicago.

[Jacquerie]

I hope the Mass legislature ignores the court and refuses to enact a homosexual marriage law. The court has no power or authority to order the legislature.

[DM1]

Believe me the Legislature will move on this and it will be legal in Mass. I just hope that Romney can capitalize on a backlash and make some inroads into the legislature.

[yankeedame]

Fifth, anger and extremism don't pay. Many wavering legislators were repulsed by the vicious language and intolerant attitudes of the most extreme opponents.

-- Whose this writer talking about? Seems to me far and away when it comes to this sort of thing the homosexual groups are by far the most vitriolic.
("vitriolic" = "savagely hostile" to all you trolls and/or folks in Palm Beach county.)

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They were also impressed favorably by the dignity and courage of gay and lesbian Vermonters who were willing to stand up for themselves and defend....

-- Oh, I get it. The "...vicious language and intolerant attitudes of the most extreme opponents" refers to the too-common-for-words petite bourgeois opposition.

[Asclepius]

... First, there is no running away from the issue ...

I'll say. Only not in the sense the author intended. In a backward, perverse, hideous sort of way, this issue nearly guarantees a Republican blowout in '04. All any Republican candidate in almost any state or district will have to do is come out against gay marriage, or in support of some remedy against it, and voting booths will swarm with conservatives and independents. In the same backward, perverse, hideous sort of way that Roe swelled the ranks of Republicans because so many refused to accept the ruling with grace but instead spent decades working against the ruling, this issue will also never, ever go away.

The political and cultural left will one day deeply regret the newly formed armies of opposition they unleashed against themselves.

[js1138]

I'm curious. In some states, 14-year-olds can get married. Will this mean that 14-year-old boys can marry older men?