Legislature should let the People Decide Marriage Issue
Althea Garrison
Former State Representative
Community Activist

   I have agonized over the issue of same sex marriages ever since the over 100,000 certified registered voters signed petitions to put on the ballot the question of marriage. These signatures were trashed over a year ago by former Senate President Thomas Birmingham. He chose to block these petition signatures from coming up for a vote at the constitutional convention (con con) thereby voiding the over 100,000 signatures of certified registered voters.

    Had former Senate President Birmingham carried out his constitutional duty, the public would have had a chance to vote on the issue of marriage this past year, but the former Senate President denied the over 100,000 certified voters the chance. That is why we face this crisis of defining marriage.

    The issue of Marriage is too important to let the Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) decide for the people. The issue of marriage will affect children and families, regardless of how one feels about defining marriage. The people should decide on this important issue and not just four non elected members of the SJC.

    The Legislature is urged to let the people decide the marriage issue and not the SJC an activist court that legislates from the bench. The SJC doesn't have a binding legal obligation to legislate from the bench, only duly elected Legislators have that authority.
    The SJC is suppose to interpret the constitution not write law from the bench and the recent SJC's recent decision on same sex marriage must not stand. The Legislature is urged to block any order that grant same sex couples the right to marry. Let the people decide this matter and not four non elected judges.

    Furthermore, I think the Legislature should initiate proceeding to remove those four judges from the bench for breach of duty.

    Marriage is a sacred religious vow between a man and women, what are the proponents of same sex marriages trying to do rewrite the Holy Bible and History? That would be wrong. Let the people decide the issue of marriage and not the SJC. These voters wanted to have a chance of voting on that important issue of marriage and were denied that change. You cannot silence those voices forever. Let the people decide. I urge legislators to; at least, give the people a chance to vote on the issue of defining marriage.

    Furthermore, to grant special benefits and privileges to a certain group of people is discriminatory toward heterosexual males and females. The issue of same sex marriage is not like race in which a person has no control over the color of his or her skin of which they were born, same sex is a matter of choice and lifestyle not to be confused or associated with class or race.

    The same sex marriages in which the SJC has mandated should and must not stand. The Legislature is urges to stop the insanity and let the people decide the marriage issue. Representative democracy demand that, I urge legislature to move expeditiously to delay the ruling of the SJC to give the voting public a chance to vote on defining marriage, once this has been done. I believe the public would support what ever the outcome produces and once and for all the issue of marriage would be resolved