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Grace Ross on Civil Rights |
A: NO, I oppose this anti-marriage proposal--as do 56% of the Massachusetts population. While roughly 38% supported the extension of marriage rights for same sex couples at the time of the Supreme Judicial court decision, when the sky did not fall and the institution of marriage fall apart, most people in Massachusetts realized that the fears raised had been unfounded. More importantly perhaps, the basic lesson that extending rights to more groups of people strengthens and increases the numbers of those committed to that institution--exclusion always undermines those rights. Massachusetts which has long had the lowest divorce rate in the nation, continues in that position. And in addition in the last couple of years previous to the Supreme Judicial Court decision about 30,000 couples got married--putting the institution of marriage on a new, stronger footing.