Mashoga (Gays)

Gay-marriage supporters in Massachusetts on Thursday defeated a measure to let voters decide whether a constitutional amendment should ban same-sex marriage in the only state that allows it.State legislators killed the ballot proposal after a four-year attempt by conservative groups to override a historic 2003 court decision that legalized gay marriage in Massachusetts.Kris Mineau, president of the Massachusetts Family Institute, which backed the measure, said gay marriage opponents were "disappointed and shocked" by the defeat."We have a situation here where the politicians have spoken but the people have not," Mineau said. "We have a highly energized base in this state of aroused citizens who, time and time again, have tried to vote on this crucial issue of the definition of marriage, and they have been denied."Proponents of same-sex marriage worried that the measure would have allowed voters to undo the rights of the state's gay couples.Lee Swislow, executive director of the Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders, said supporters of gay marriage were confident that legal challenges to the state law would be quelled for now because the failure of the ballot initiative indicated "how much people understand the importance of marriage equality."But "we are not going away," Mineau said. "We have the opportunity for another petition drive."The proposal needed support from a quarter of the state's legislators -- 50 votes in two consecutive sessions -- to reach the 2008 statewide ballot. In January, it passed the first round with 62 votes. On Thursday, the measure received 45 votes, with 151 opposing it.Mineau said about nine legislators "turned on us and changed their minds overnight," after previously supporting the measure. He blamed intense lobbying efforts on the part of gay-marriage supporters.Massachusetts is the only state where same-sex marriage is legal, although other states have passed laws allowing same-sex couples to enter into civil unions or domestic partnerships. Meanwhile, 26 states have passed constitutional amendments banning gay marriage.Gay-marriage advocates hope the decision marks the end of the legal fight that began in 2001, when seven same-sex couples who had been denied marriage licenses sued. The case reached the state Supreme Judicial Court, which ruled in 2003 that banning gay marriage was unconstitutional. Over the last three years, more than 8,500 couples have lawfully wedded in the state.Hoping to reverse the landmark court decision, opponents of gay marriage had collected more than 170,000 signatures to submit the issue for inclusion on the ballot.Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney made his attack on the legalization of same-sex marriage a trademark of his former governorship of Massachusetts. He was a lead plaintiff in the suit brought by opponents of gay marriage, which argued that lawmakers were stripping voters of their right to amend the state Constitution.Thursday's vote was a triumph for Deval Patrick, who last week became the state's first governor to march in Boston's gay pride parade. The Democratic governor has said he wants Massachusetts to remain a place where gay couples can legally marry.Alan Wolfe, a professor of political science at Boston College, said a leadership change in the Legislature affected the drop in support for the constitutional amendment.But time, he said, had the biggest influence. "People were gradually getting used to the idea of gay marriage in the state," Wolfe said. "To overturn gay marriage was just too radical a step."