In 2003 I passed in a paper about Goodridge v. The Department of Public Health to a Professor at Northeastern University. He wanted me to try and be a little more realistic, stressing that we probably were not ready for gay marriage. Sure the Supreme Judicial Court would rule against this minority, he asked for a rewrite. I thought we were ready, did not care for compromise and thought we should go for the whole chalupa.
When I heard the ruling a few weeks later, I was dizzy for a moment. I thought I could feel the whole state of Massachusetts accelerating into the future.
Since then the sky is just as blue over this even bluer state, and for some of us, well, like Etta James sings, life is like a song.
I want to thank House Speaker Sal DiMasi, Senate President Terry Murray, Gov. Deval Patrick and all the supportive legislators for leading such a brave fight to protect our rights and prevent the country’s oldest constitution from being smeared with discrimination.
This was a civil rights issue, and many of those originally supportive of the amendment finally saw it as such and saw how counterintuitive it was to have the minority of the legislature voting to allow the majority of voters to decide the rights of a minority.
During the US bicentennial, our slogan was “Boston: where it all began!” I thank all legislators who voted to keep this theme alive by bravely leading us into the future. Love you. Mean it.
David Flanagan
Jamaica Plain