Last-Ditch Bid to Stop Gay Marriage

Gov. Mitt Romney on Thursday filed emergency legislation that would permit him to hire a special counsel to keep Massachusetts from becoming the first state to legalize same-sex marriage.

The Republican governor said he would ask the special counsel to petition the state’s highest court to delay enactment of a ruling that on May 17 will permit gays and lesbians to wed here.

Romney said his move would allow him to “protect the integrity of the constitutional process” and “preserve the right of citizens to make this decision rather than having it made for them by the court.”

Atty. Gen. Tom Reilly, a Democrat, had denied the governor’s request that he seek a stay of the Supreme Judicial Court’s decision. On Thursday, Reilly said, “I stand by my decision that there is no legal basis to seek a stay.”

Reilly also refused to appoint a special deputy attorney general to carry out the governor’s appeal.

Faulting Romney for “overstepping the boundaries of his office,” state Senate President Robert E. Travaglini, a Democrat from Boston, called the governor’s latest move in the same-sex marriage fray “nothing more than an attempt to advance [his] political agenda by encroaching upon the legal role of the attorney general.”

The governor wants to postpone enactment of the court’s ruling in Goodridge vs. Massachusetts Board of Health until at least November 2006 -- the first opportunity state voters could have to decide on a constitutional amendment that would limit marriage to a union between a man and a woman.

After weeks of anguished debate, the state Legislature last month narrowly approved the amendment. However, it must again vote to pass the measure in its 2005 session, and voters must subsequently endorse it before it can become law.

In the meantime, town clerks in Massachusetts can begin issuing same-sex marriage licenses on May 17. Although the state requires a three-day waiting period, some gay and lesbian couples have said they will seek waivers so they can marry immediately.

The state’s Registry of Vital Records and Statistics on Thursday sent a letter to clerks to notify them of special sessions on how to proceed with same-sex marriages.

As his special counsel, Romney has proposed former Supreme Judicial Court Judge Joseph R. Nolan, who earlier branded the Goodridge decision “an abomination.”

In a letter to lawmakers, Nolan said he had reviewed the ruling and believed there were “compelling reasons” for the court to issue a stay. Nolan also said the amendment approved by the Legislature represented a “significant change” in the case.

Nolan served on the state’s highest court from 1981 until his retirement in 1995.

Mary Bonauto, a lawyer for Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders here, dismissed Romney’s latest move as “a last-ditch and hopeless effort ... to single-handedly change the law and deny rights to gay and lesbian couples.”

Noting that the Supreme Judicial Court twice ruled in favor of the same-sex plaintiffs in Goodridge, Bonauto added, “You don’t change the rules because you lost -- twice.”

Jan LaRue, chief counsel in Washington for Concerned Women for America -- an organization that attempts to bring a Christian perspective to public policy -- praised Romney for seeking to bypass the attorney general.

“If Tom Reilly won’t do his job, the governor is right to do all that he can to ensure the authority of the legislative branch is protected,” she said.