Democrats expected to back gay marriage
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Democrats expected to back gay marriage

Weigh endorsement in Mass. party platform

The Massachusetts Democratic Party is poised next week to add an endorsement of gay marriage to its platform, despite a nationwide backlash against same-sex marriage that led voters to approve bans in 11 states last fall.

Philip W. Johnston, the state Democratic Party chairman, said yesterday that the party's 3,000 delegates will consider the platform change May 14, three days before the first anniversary of legalized same-sex marriage in Massachusetts. State Democratic parties in Iowa and Colorado added endorsements of same-sex marriage to their platforms last year.

"I don't anticipate any serious debate about it," Johnston said of the party vote that will take place at Paul E. Tsongas Arena in Lowell. "I think most delegates will support it. In this state, the more people get used to the idea, the more support there is."

If approved by the party delegates, the new addition to the Democratic Party's platform will read: "We affirm our commitment to the Massachusetts constitutional guarantee to same-sex marriage, and all of its rights, privileges, and obligations, and reject any attempt to weaken or revoke those rights."

The vote will, in effect, codify a resolution passed by the state party committee last year.

The national Democratic Party platform does not explicitly endorse same-sex marriage, but it supports ''full inclusion of gay and lesbian families in the life of our nation" and opposes efforts in Washington, D.C., to pass a federal constitutional ban on gay marriage. The platform also supports the rights of states to determine their own marriage laws.

Among the likely Democratic gubernatorial candidates in 2006, Secretary of State William F. Galvin and former assistant US attorney general Deval Patrick both support the platform change. A spokesman for Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly was noncommittal on the platform change when contacted yesterday, but he reiterated Reilly's support for the legality of same-sex marriage here.

The vote comes at a time when Democrats across the country are trying to reach out to social conservatives and focus on other issues.

"I'm as prochoice as you can get, and yet I think my party should be welcoming of prolife Democrats," said US Representative Michael E. Capuano, Democrat of Somerville, who backs same-sex marriage. "Same thing here. I understand where some good Democrats would agree with me on everything but this and I want them in the party."

Galvin said he has no problem with the new platform language, but added that he does not see a pressing need for the change.

"We really, as a party, have to move beyond this issue," Galvin said. "This is not what's holding our state back. It's job loss, loss of an economic plan. We've got to get the state moving again."

While platforms exert little influence on candidates' positions on issues, they tend to reflect the widespread sentiments of a party's core membership.

A Boston Globe poll in March found that 71 percent of Democrats surveyed statewide said they believed same-sex marriage should be allowed, and 24 percent did not. By comparison, 35 percent of Republicans supported same-sex marriage and 59 percent of Republicans opposed it. Independents supported same-sex marriage 53 percent to 35 percent, with 12 percent unsure. Overall, 56 percent of those surveyed backed same-sex marriage, while 37 percent did not and 7 percent weren't sure.

Those numbers stand in contrast to much of the rest of the nation, as indicated by the results of the November elections. Voters in 11 states approved constitutional bans on same-sex marriage, bringing the number of states with such bans to 18. In addition, 24 states have enacted legislative statutes defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman.

After last year's presidential contest, some strategists said same-sex marriage in Massachusetts hurt Senator John F. Kerry's campaign by encouraging social conservatives to go to the polls and vote for President Bush.

Massachusetts remains the only state that has legalized gay marriage. Connecticut and Vermont have enacted civil unions for gay couples.

Martina Jackson, chairwoman of the Massachusetts Democratic Party's platform committee, said she held 25 hearings across Massachusetts in advance of next week's convention, and no one testified against the party's proposal to endorse same-sex marriage.

"Everybody who spoke spoke for it," Jackson said of the activists, city and ward committee members, and labor union officials who attended the hearings, held all over the state. "We weren't sure what we were going to hear. There wasn't one place where we heard a negative, but lots of insistence that we do include it."

Nevertheless, the Democratic Party is not unanimous on the subject. The leading voice against same-sex marriage in the Legislature during last year's constitutional convention was Representative Philip Travis, Democrat of Rehoboth. And it was Senate President Robert E. Travaglini a fellow Democrat, who coauthored a proposed constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex marriage but permit civil unions. The Legislature narrowly approved the measure, but must do so again in the current legislative session before it could appear on the ballot in November 2006. The measure passed 105 to 92, four votes more than necessary to clear the 101-vote margin needed to advance the proposed amendment.

Although the Democratic Party is far from monolithic on the subject of same-sex marriage, the recent departure of the socially conservative House Speaker Thomas M. Finneran, who was replaced by socially liberal Salvatore F. DiMasi, means the pendulum in the State House has recently swung in favor of same-sex marriage. In addition, opponents of the proposed constitutional ban have picked up at least three votes since last year's dramatic constitutional convention, leaving the fate of the Travaglini measure in doubt.

Still, Capuano acknowledged that the platform, ultimately, plays but one part in defining the party and its membership. To underscore his point, Capuano said that he has never read the state Democratic Party platform.

John Marble, spokesman for the gay organization, National Stonewall Democrats, in Washington, D.C., said the platform change sends a crucial message to the rest of the nation.

"It's important because Massachusetts knows more than other states how marriage can benefit all families in a state, and after living with the reality of legalized marriage for same-sex couples, they are recognizing that it is not a threat," Marble said.

The off-year convention will include gubernatorial politicking: Johnston has given Reilly, Patrick, and Galvin five minutes each to tell delegates why they want to be the next governor of Massachusetts.

"Basically, I simply said to them, 'Stand up without demonstrations or placards and explain the rationale for your candidacy,' why they feel they would be able to lead the state over the next four years," Johnston said. "I think people are anxious to hear."

Also, delegates will hear from the national Democratic Party chairman, Howard Dean, as well as Senator Edward M. Kennedy, who is running for reelection in 2006.

Boston Globe ~ Raphael Lewis ** Democrats expected to back gay marriage