May 2001

"This was a smart move by homosexual activists because they know they're losing the battle in public opinion," said Atty. J. Edward Pawlick, Publisher of Massachusetts News.

"They've been shocked to see the legislature poised to pass a Protection of Marriage Act, which would define marriage as a contract between one man and one woman. The activists are now trying to go around the legislature to the seven people on the Supreme Judicial Court who have already indicated that they are anxious to change the state Constitution and approve marriage for homosexuals."

Chief Justice Suzanne DelVecchio of the Superior Court, where the case will be tried, has also spoken publicly in favor of such a suit.

"The judges in this case are not the impartial jurists that are supposed to preside in a courtroom," said Atty. Pawlick.

The suit was filed on April 11 by Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD), a homosexual law firm, on behalf of seven couples who have been denied marriage licenses. If approved, Massachusetts would be the only state in the country to allow marriage between homosexuals. "It is the mothers and the children in Massachusetts who will suffer if this suit is approved," said Pawlick. "We already know that the feminists, including Chief Justice Margaret Marshall, are seeking to destroy the institution of marriage because they say that women will never be 'free' until they do so. This will just be another feminist nail in the coffin. The institution of marriage was established to protect mothers and their children. As the Vermont Supreme Court said when it approved civil unions last year, such a change could 'destabilize' traditional marriage.

"If the seven members of this court approve a change in our state Constitution, other members of a future court would have to approve other relationships, such as three women, one man and two women or a brother and a sister who wish to marry. How about if two sisters are caring for the child of a brother who has died, will they have to engage in sexual intercourse to receive benefits? This sounds very compassionate, but once this bag of worms is opened, the entire institution of marriage will be destroyed as the Vermont Supreme Court has warned."

The Executive Director of the Massachusetts Citizens Alliance, Bryan Rudnick, leader of the group that has been working to pass the Protection of Marriage Act in the legislature, said, "The plaintiffs and their attorneys are trying to circumvent the legislature and thwart the will of the people by launching a lawsuit to redefine marriage out of existence. If this lawsuit succeeds, marriage as we know it, marriage as it has been understood for thousands of years, will be redefined out of existence.

"This law suit shows that now, more than ever, the Massachusetts legislature needs to pass the Protection of Marriage Bill. This bill sends a clear signal to the families and children of the Commonwealth that marriage matters."

Brian Camenker, the President of the Parents' Rights Coalition, said, "The rate of domestic violence in gay relationships is forty times that of others. Despite what the media says, stable gay relationships over time are almost non-existent; even gay writers such as Randy Shilts admit that." He also said that recent studies show that children raised by homosexual parents do not do well.

Pawlick added, "We saw what Judge Allan van Gestel did last year when GLAD sued the two whistleblowing parents, Brian Camenker and Scott Whiteman, who had revealed what had occurred at Fistgate. The judge was so much in bed with GLAD with the gag order he imposed that the entire country was laughing uproariously at the Massachusetts courts. The lawyers at GLAD are trying to build on that success by using the courts to go around the people.

"If they are successful, the citizens will have to reverse any change in the state Constitution made by the SJC and formally amend the Constitution by petition in 2004."

The Protection of Marriage Bill (H3375) has been filed by a bi-partisan coalition of legislators led by House Ways and Means Committee Chairman John Rodgers (D-Norwood) and House Minority Leader Francis Marini (R-Hanson).