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Pride Center Applauds Massachusetts High Court Ruling
WESTERN NEW YORK’S PRIDE CENTER
APPLAUDS MASSACHUSETTS HIGH COURT RULING
Buffalo, NY, February 4, 2004 - - In a landmark decision, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court declared that same-sex couples have the same fundamental rights to marry as heterosexual couples.
In their statement the justices said, “The bill [submitted by the Senate] that would allow for civil unions, but falls short of marriage makes for unconstitutional, inferior and discriminatory status for same-sex couples.” The state legislature had been in heated debate since the original court ruling in November deciding that the state could not legally prevent same-sex couples from marrying.
“This is banner day in our fight for equal marriage rights,” said Pride Center director Jim Ver Steeg. “The fact that one of the highest courts in the country recognizes that all citizens should be guaranteed the same rights under the law speaks to the very spirit of the gay marriage issue.”
Included in the justices statement was a challenge to the civil union compromise being offered by the State Senate, “The history of our nation,” the justices said, “has demonstrated that separate is seldom, if ever, equal.”
The high court’s ruling comes just one week before members of both houses meet in a Constitutional Convention to consider an amendment to define marriage as a union between one man and one woman.
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