Lawmakers Keep Gay-Marriage Ban Proposal Alive
Supporters, Opponents Rally At Statehouse
January 2, 2007

BOSTON -- Massachusetts lawmakers voted Tuesday to advance a proposed constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, a critical step toward putting the measure the 2008 ballot.

The Legislature has twice put off voting on the controversial issue by adjourning without taking a vote after state residents collected petitions asking that the question be put to the voters as a ballot question. The supporters of the gay marriage ban amendment collected signatures from 170,000 people in an effort to get the question on the 2008 ballot.

The proposed amendment would define marriage as the union of one man and one woman, effectively outlawing gay marriage in Massachusetts. the rest