Profile in Cowardice: Senate President Therese Murray

Senator Murray became the first Senate President to much fanfare: she was the first female Senate President ever and she is a so-called equality supporter, replacing someone who voted against marriage equality just a few months ago.

When someone accepts a position of leadership, they accept all the rights, privileges - and responsibilities - that come with it. Senator Murray claims to support marriage equality. She has the support of almost 75% the entire legislature on that one issue. However, she isn't willing to do what the House and Senate did last Constitutional Convention and kill an amendment at all cost. Of course, last time around, they weren't willing to do that for minorities - they were only willing to do that for the health care amendment; the one that would have guaranteed health care for the tens of thousands who are being left behind from this "universal" law in Massachusetts. But that's another issue.

Murray has a duty to kill this mean-spirited, hateful, homophobic amendment that would quite possibly destroy marriage equality. Almost 75% of the legislature would back her on it. History would applaud her courage. Instead, she's being a coward. She's too afraid to follow her peers and stand up for the right thing. She's too afraid of doing what people have done during Constitutional Conventions since as long as I'm aware of: killing amendments procedurally to just make them go away. It's a little too late to cry foul on procedural deaths and if people were to do that, they should have been crying foul about the health care amendment long ago.

They weren't. MassResistance types don't care about that stuff. They just care about their own goals. They cry about procedure because, guess what, it helps their cause. If things were reversed, they'd have no problem with the legislature using procedure to kill this thing. They will do whatever it takes to win, something our side - sadly - doesn't get. Isn't it cheaters who are never supposed to prosper?

So, I say this to Senator Murray: You own this amendment. It became yours when you became Senate President. Word on the street is we don't have the votes to kill this with a yes-or-no vote(coming from a number of sources, including high-ranking Representatives on Beacon Hill) . They also say the only thing blocking us from winning is Senator Murray, the so-called equality supporter. She's such an equality supporter, she's willing to let it be absolutely destroyed because she'd have to stick her neck out and make a courageous call.

Senator Murray: you have a duty to both your constituents and the people of Massachusetts. That duty is to do whatever you can to protect the equality of everyone in this state. That duty is to protect marriage equality. If you want to be remembered fondly by the homophobic people at MassResistance, keep your current course. Mind you, there aren't even enough of those people to keep a radio program going one hour a week - so you may just want to think carefully here.

If you want to do the right thing - and be remembered as a hero for all time - don't let this amendment pass. The ball is in your hands, though you don't have much time: June 14th is the day you can make a difference. You have all the power here. If you were wise, you wouldn't turn yourself into a Profile in Cowardice. If you were wise, you would protect the equality of marriage for all in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Tom Lang of KnowThyNeighbor on the ConCon and Movement

There were lots of reasons to have a little chat with the leader of Knowthyneighbor. For starters, tomorrow is the first Constitutional Convention - and he has a lot of important info regarding the atrocity some people are trying to see unfold in the Bay State. Furthermore, my paper is certainly examining his organization as part of the netroots movement. Lastly, who wouldn't want to talk to a guy who had the brilliant idea to list every single name and address of those who had the audacity to try to write discrimination into the constitution? Some people don't like that kind of aggressiveness, but temerity will never get anyone anywhere.

Besides, people have to be accountable for their actions - they shouldn't be able to sign a petition as if they were an Internet alias. They're not doing some online Harris Poll. This isn't a DailyKos open thread. There are no booths or curtains protecting signature collections, just like there's nothing protecting his efforts. Everyone is open to the criticism of their actions. And actions just so happen to be Lang's specialty.

One interesting thing about Lang is that he really knows his stuff. He's been on the battle ground for years now and spends most of his free time talking to congresspeople, talking to fellow supporters, talking to the media... He's organizing a real grassroots/netroots effort. He's helped sway representatives our way - and had a little advice for people that want to do the same. It's not about the stories - Congresspeople just don't really care. To the surprise of hopefully no one, many of them just care about winning the next election. Sure, they want to do good - but they'll do anything to seek that precise vote that will manage to hopefully piss off the least amount of people in doing so. It's not a bad philosophy, really, except when the "least offensive" vote manages to curtail equality. Then, it becomes unacceptable.

Lang and I talked about the state's more 'conventional' gay-rights organization and its lack of action. According to the director of KnowThyNeighbor, one of the key reasons we haven't seen a repeal of 1913 or a host of other important issues is none other than MassEquality and its allies. Certain people in that organization think that legislators would vote for its repeal and essentially say 'see, I support gay rights,' then not vote against a marriage ban. Does it sound ludicrous to you? It sure did to Lang, who was disappointed in MassEquality's inaction there. I'd say Susan Ryan-Vollmar of Bay Windows would agree, but I'll have to ask her tonight during our LeftAhead podcast. 1913 should have been long gone - something that could have happened by now if instead of being afraid of it, MassEquality pushed it.

Despite their disagreements, Lang agrees with Marc Solomon on one thing. The vote on marriage will be happening far sooner than many wanted or expected, though that's not necessarily a bad thing. It just means we've got to work that much harder now to convince our elected representatives to kill this thing once and for all - and hope the wind is on our side. With any luck, MassEquality and everyone in the glbt movement in Massachusetts will be more organized this time around. We can't afford any confusion - every state rep and senator on our side needs to know exactly what to do and a plan has to be made well in advance.

Speaking of which - there's something everyone is counting on, from Tom Lang and Knowthyneighbor to MassEquality: you. Nothing is going to be defeated if thousands of people aren't calling their elected leaders. So, have readers called their state legislator or senator yet? According to Lang, today is one of the best days to do so - the before day or day of a big vote. Heck, call them today and then tomorrow, just so they know you mean business!

Crime Doesn't Pay

From an email forwarded to me:

On behalf of the Board of Directors of Catholic Citizenship, Philip D. Moran, announced that the Board has accepted the resignation of Larry Cirignano, Esq. as Executive Director of Catholic Citizenship.

Mr. Moran stated, "the Board wishes to thank Larry for his tireless efforts advancing the mission of Catholic Citizenship over the past years. Further, we want to congratulate him for his invaluable work towards realizing a successful vote by the Massachusetts Legislature on January 2nd with respect to the constitutional amendment on same-sex marriage."

No one likes a bully - even, apparently, a bully's friends.

Thanks, Brian, for the info.

UPDATE: Apparently, I was wrong. Word has it, he's getting a promotion! Yikes...