Report from the Mass. Statehouse
So I was hanging around the Statehouse yesterday. The place is more amusing that Friday on the FB. The pro-gay marriage folks are MUCH more visible than the anti-, there are more of them and they are noisier, but the cameras seem to be hanging around the anti-s, who, let's face it, are a LOT more colorful.
Basically, the coalitions working together are absolutely bizarre, and if you look at the four votes that have occurred so far, you find that about 75 to 80% of the Reps and Senators can say that they have voted both for and against each of Gay Marriage and Civil Union. A lot of vote swapping is going on so people can build records -- the Senate President's motion had the support of virtually all the Senators, but only after it was determined by them that it would fail and they didn't need to buck their boss. Ditto with the House Speaker's resolution.
And on many votes the folks backing and opposing gay marriage itself are voting together to kill constitutional amendments that are anything but a pure yes or no on gay marriage, while at the same time the folks opposing gay marriage so far don't seem to have the umph to even get a straight up or down vote to the floor of the Constitutional Convention (but we'll see if they do if all the people trying to compromise fail a few more times).
Very amusing.
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