Massachusetts
high court hears challenge to same-sex marriages

The Massachusetts high court heard a bid Monday that seeks to prevent any more gay and lesbian couples from getting married in the state until residents have a chance to vote next year on a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages. The lawyer for C.J. Doyle, executive director of the Catholic Action League of Massachusetts, argued that such marriages interfere with voters' ability to participate in the "robust debate" that is required on such an issue. But justices, even two who dissented in the 2003 decision that legalized same-sex marriages in the state, seemed skeptical. "How has the full and robust public discourse been inhibited?" asked Justice Robert Cordy, one of the dissenters in 2003. "It seems to me, if anything, it's been enlivened on this subject.... I don't see how it gets inhibited by the fact that the court has made a constitutional ruling." Approximately 5,000 gay and lesbian couples have gotten married in the state since the supreme judicial court's ruling took effect in May 2004. In March 2004 the state legislature approved a constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex marriage. Lawmakers must pass the measure a second time, either this year or next, before it can reach the statewide ballot in November 2006. Justice Roderick Ireland rejected Doyle's arguments last year. It was heard on appeal Monday by the full court, which did not immediately rule. Justice Martha Sosman, who wrote the 2003 dissenting opinion, said that unless it's proved that Ireland erred in his ruling, then "that's the end of it." The justices didn't ask any questions of an attorney for Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders or of state assistant attorney general John Hitt, who later declined to comment. GLAD lawyer Michele Granda said she was confident the court would rule against Doyle. Doyle's attorney, Chester Darling, expressed similar sentiments. "It was a little negative, from our point of view," he said. (AP)