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Although the majority of the Massachusetts public supports marriage equality, the opposition pushing for an anti-gay Constitutional amendment has been vocal and nationally-funded. The amendment, which required only 50 votes to move forward, was defeated; the overwhelming majority of the MA legislature believed that civil rights should never be put to a public vote.  Two of the Quincy Legislators, joined the ranks of the minority, who voted in favor of a public vote to take away the legal protections of a select minority.  Those legislators were Representatives Tobin and Ayers.

The Constitution gives legislators the responsibility to decide what’s appropriate to put on the ballot. Keeping discrimination off the ballot is the right thing to do. Legislators have an obligation to protect people from discrimination and protect their basic rights. That means keeping discrimination off the ballot.

• Quincy has the most same-sex marriages on the South Shore of Boston
  
• The petition to strip these protections away represents only 3% of the city
  
• Tom Koch, Candidate for Quincy Mayor, was a part of this 3% minority  
  
• 1/2 of the Quincy Legislators have supported this 3% minority
  
• Quincy native, John Adams authored our constitution to protect all the people of Massachusetts. This petition amends his document to legalize discrimination.

Read more:
Why Marriage Matters (from GLAD) [PDF] 
Marriage Vs. Civil Unions (from GLAD) [PDF]

It’s wrong to vote on anyone’s rights. Our Constitution was created to protect everyone – and it should never be amended to discriminate against anyone. When we let one group of people start voting on the rights of another group, we no longer have a democracy.

Basic rights like marriage do not belong on an election ballot. Marriage provides important protections to couples and their children, especially health care. The children of gay and lesbian couples deserve equal protection, and those protections should not be put at risk in a public vote.

Who are we to judge other people and vote on their rights? Voters should not be asked to cast judgments on their neighbors and deny them basic rights. A vote to put these rights on the ballot is a vote to discriminate.

Southerners didn't get to vote on desegregation. Protection of individual rights is a fundamental part of our democracy. This is why we do not allow the majority to vote on the basic rights of minorities.

We wouldn’t vote on the marriage rights of straight people, so why would we vote on marriage rights for gay people? Putting this amendment on the ballot is discrimination.   

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Just copy/paste the following text into an email to your friends:


[Subject Line] Don't let them ban gay marriage in Massachusetts 

Please help stop the Massachusetts Legislature from writing discrimination into the Constitution. 

In January, 62 legislators (including Quincy's Senator Morrissey and Representatives Ayers and Tobin) voted to advance an amendment that would ban gay marriage in Massachusetts. 

If the amendment gets more than 50 votes in the Legislature this year, it will go to the ballot – and could very well be approved.  We need to do everything we can to keep that from happening. 

Please click here or go to www.quincyformarriageequality.com ask the legislators of Quincy, to open their hearts and protect the people of their district, by rejecting the marriage amendment.  Then help spread the word by emailing your friends and family and submitting "letters to the editor" of our local papers.

Equal marriage rights are important to me, so I hope you can spare a moment or two today to help. 

Thank you,  

   

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Important debates happen in The Patriot Ledger and The Quincy Sun newspapers. Help us spread the word about marriage equality. (Click to view recent letters).

Tips for Writing Letters to the Editor
Download this page as a PDF file

Share your thoughts on an article or opinion piece you read in the paper!  Letters to the editor are simple to write and give you the opportunity to express your ideas to thousands of readers in your local area. Speaking up in a public forum like a newspaper can influence the tone of debate on an issue and yield extraordinary results. Here are some tips to help you write a letter to the editor and share your support for the freedom to marry with your local community.

What to say:

• Talk about the basic issues: love and commitment; families and children; protections and responsibilities; fairness and equality; how this issue affects real people in Massachusetts.
• Tell something of your personal story related to marriage, keeping it short. A personal story can be very compelling, but it won't get published if it goes on forever.

How to say it:

• Be brief, for the sake of the editors and readers. Three paragraphs of one to three sentences each should be plenty. Long letters will be edited to meet space constraints, so keeping it short will improve your chances of getting the message across.
• Do not appear to be over-emotional in your letter. Do not rant and rave. It could cause the paper to think you are irrational and decline to print your letter.
• Take the high road. Avoid sarcasm as well as negative comments about opponents (or the newspaper).
• Make references to the article or opinion piece to which you are responding.  For example, "I was pleased to read (author's name) piece supporting civil marriage for same-sex couples ('Name of Op-Ed,' date)".

Nuts and bolts:

• Send your letter by email if you can, to get your message out there quicker. You can find the email address in your local paper on the page where letters to the editor are printed.
• Be sure to include your contact information because many newspapers will only print a letter to the editor after calling the author to verify his or her identity and address.

Double the Impact:

• Consider also sending a copy of your letter to community leaders and policy-makers. They need to hear your opinions too.
• You can find contact information for the Governor and your state legislators at www.wheredoivotema.com. 
  
• When writing to the Governor, your state Representative or state Senator, be sure to include a line or two asking them to be leaders in favor of public policy and legislation that protects GLBT families. In addition, encourage them to oppose efforts to deprive GLBT families of legal protection, such as the anti-gay Constitutional amendment (H3190) that would redefine and limit marriage in Massachusetts as the union of a man and a woman and would attempt to prohibit the extension of other protections to GLBT families.