http://www.boston.com/news/politics/president/articles/2004/02/26/kerry_backs_state_ban_on_gay_marriage/
"TOLEDO, Ohio -- Presidential candidate John F. Kerry said yesterday that he supports amending the Massachusetts Constitution to ban gay marriage and provide for civil unions for gay couples.
In his most explicit remarks on the subject yet, Kerry told the Globe that he would support a proposed amendment to the state Constitution that would prohibit gay marrriage so long as, while outlawing gay marriage, it also ensured that same-sex couples have access to all legal rights that married couples receive.
"If the Massachusetts Legislature crafts an appropriate amendment that provides for partnership and civil unions, then I would support it, and it would advance the goal of equal protection," the senator said yesterday, stressing that he was referring only to the state, and not the federal, Constitution. He has said he would oppose any amendment that did not include a provision for civil unions. "I think that you need to have civil union. That's my position," he said Tuesday.
Kerry's remarks angered supporters of gay marriage in Massachusetts, but could help stalled efforts by state legislative leaders to win support for their amendment. The amendment written by Senate President Robert E. Travaglini and Senate minority leader Brian Lees would restrict marriage to heterosexuals but create a same-sex civil union system that would provide all the benefits and protections of marriage.
"It is harmful for us and could well affect the vote," said Arline Isaacson, cochairwoman of the Massachusetts Gay and Lesbian Political Caucus, which strongly opposes such an amendment.
Over the last several weeks, as the debate over whether to amend the state Constitution has unfolded, Kerry has refused to offer a detailed position. He had said generally that he opposes gay marriage as well as the ruling by the Supreme Judicial Court that cleared the way for gay marriages, but that he supports civil unions. But he has not described his view of any specific amendment under discussion in the Legislature.
Nationally, Republicans have tried to pin Kerry down on the highly charged issue and hoped to use the controversy in Massachusetts as part of their efforts to paint him as a Northeast liberal out of synch with the rest of the country. They have also tried to use the complex nuances that surround gay-marriage issues and Kerry's statements to back up their charge that he is inconsistent on major policy issues.
Saying at the time that he opposed gay marriage, Kerry was one of 14 senators to vote against a federal law in 1996 defining marriage as a union only of a man and woman, saying it amounted to gay-bashing. Kerry has also denounced the push by President Bush this week to amend the US Constitution to outlaw gay marriage.
Kerry has said he opposed amending the US Constitution, because he believes the issue of marriage should be left to the states.
In the past several weeks, Kerry has been under pressure to take a position in the ongoing debate in Massachusetts.
Two weeks ago, a deadlocked state Legislature, meeting as a constitutional convention, spent two emotionally charged days grappling with proposals for amendments to ban gay marriage, but failed to find consensus. Lawmakers are scheduled to reconvene March 11. Voters would have a chance to make the final decision on an amendment in the November 2006 election.
The SJC ruling takes effect May 17. Barring legal maneuvers by opponents, the ruling gives a 2 1/2-year window in which gay couples can legally marry before voters decide the issue.
Not everyone on Beacon Hill said that Kerry's comments would affect the debate. Some called it a highly personal issue.
"Members are reaching their conclusions based on what they hear from their districts and what they feel in their hearts," said state Senator Andrea F. Nuciforo Jr., a Democrat from Pittsfield, who supports the Lees-Travaglini amendment. "No matter what the good senator or anyone of national prominence has to say, it is unlikely to influence any member of the constitutional convention."
Kerry's position is also contrary to that of the Massachusetts Democratic Party, which last month endorsed gay marriage.
Kerry has appeared reluctant to enter into the gay-marriage debate as it unfolded in his home state.
Earlier this year, Kerry was the only member of the state's all-Democrat congressional delegation who chose not to sign a letter urging the state Legislature to reject a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. When the Legislature convened last month to consider amendment language, Kerry stayed silent, a position that drew criticism from several gay media outlets. New England's largest gay-targeted newspaper, In Newsweekly, cited Kerry's "flip-flops" on the issue of gay marriage in an editorial to be published today that endorses his rival, Senator John Edwards, for the Democratic presidential nomination."
Patrick Healy can be reached at phealy@globe.com.
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