Court Affirms Dignity and Equality of All Individuals in the Commonwealth

11/18/2003

From: Josh Friedes, 617-821-7206; Robyn Maguire, 617-256-4746 both of the Freedom to Marry Coalition in Massachusetts; web: http://www.EqualMarriage.org

BOSTON, Nov. 18 -- Following is a statement of the Freedom to Marry Coalition in Massachusetts:

Today's decision in the case of Goodridge vs. Department of Public Health is a victory for the entire Commonwealth. Massachusetts families can celebrate the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts' fair and wise decision to recognize that all citizens of the Commonwealth must be treated equally under the law. We thank the Court for protecting our families and for standing in solidarity with our forefathers' vision of liberty and freedom for all.

This decision protects couples, protects families and protects children. Soon, gay and lesbian couples who are in loving and committed relationships will have the ability to fully protect and support those they care for. Civil marriage confers hundreds of protections, benefits and responsibilities that no other legal status provides. And, as Chief Justice Margaret Marshall wrote in the 4-3 decision, "We declare that barring an individual from the protections, benefits and obligations of civil marriage solely because that person would marry a person of the same sex violates the Massachusetts constitution." For the first time in our state's history, gay and lesbian couples now have the very same legal right to participate in these protections and obligations as every other citizen.

For years, gay and lesbian couples and their children have been forced to live without the very basic protections that civil marriage confers to families, such as health care benefits, automatic hospital visitation and inheritance rights, bereavement leave and more. Such discrimination was to the detriment of our children and to families throughout the Commonwealth.

This decision protects the Commonwealth itself, because whenever the rights of any group of individuals are affirmed, the rights of all are affirmed. In the very clearest terms, the court proclaimed the self-evident truth that all citizens of the Commonwealth are entitled to equal protection of law and to equal participation in society.

Just last week, we learned from the national polling firm Decision Research, 64 percent of the Commonwealth supports the Court's decision and 73 percent of the Commonwealth oppose an amendment to the constitution that would prohibit civil marriage rights for gay and lesbian couples. The court's decision is reflective of the Commonwealth's support for civil marriage equality for gay and lesbian couples.

We are grateful to the court for this wise and fair decision, and we celebrate that gay and lesbian couples and their children can now be assured of the same rights that all citizens of the Commonwealth are protected by.