Hidden Signs of Conservatism

To non-natives, Massachusetts is a liberal haven of Birkenstock-clad hippies and married homosexual couples. While I won't deny these stereotypical images, or my own tree-hugging roots (my mom once stopped the car so that I could retrieve the gum I spit out the window), other areas of the state offer a different (read: conservative) demographic. Embarrassingly, my own western Massachusetts town of 5000 people voted for Bush, and when I went home for Thanksgiving, Bush-Cheney '04 stickers were still on a number of cars. While these markers are kept mostly under wraps, governor Mitt Romney's recent push for a ban on gay marriage has revealed the hidden reactionaries of my state.

Standing on the steps of the statehouse before hundreds of opponents to same-sex marriage, Romney recently announced that he would order a ballot question defining marriage as between a man and a woman if legislators fail to vote on the matter when they reconvene in January. In spite of two years of evidence that same-sex marriage has not destroyed the heterosexual family, 170,000 Massachusetts residents signed his petition that claims the contrary.

In the same week that Romney gave one of his famous "save the children" speeches, the U.S. Catholic bishops, the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina, and the Presbyterian Church (USA) also took steps backward in gay rights. Decrying gay marriage as a sin marching across the nation, the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina voted not only to push homosexuals off the altar, but out of the seats of the church congregation as well. In Washington, the Catholic bishops who claim to be "respectful" toward gays and lesbians (according to americancatholic.org) passed the "Ministry to Persons with a Homosexual Inclination," a set of rules that essentially label homosexuality a disease that gays should not let out in the open air. Forget gay marriage-these church officials won't allow gays to unlock the closet door, let alone allow them to walk down the aisle.

If Romney succeeds in his ban, my home state would not only affirm the conservative attitude toward homosexuality, but would also become the laughing stock of liberals. What bothers me isn't that a Mormon governor trying to push his religious and possibly political agenda (to garner conservative support for the 2008 presidential campaign), but that he is undoing the image that so many in Massachusetts have worked hard to uphold. Being the first and only state to legalize gay marriages, Massachusettes set an example for other states to follow. Even Vermont, another state stereotyped often for its liberal views (refer to satirical movie Thank You For Smoking in which the Vermont senator, played by William H. Macy, dons a suit and Birkenstocks) settled for civil union over gay marriage. Giving gays the option of civil union is like giving the losing team the last-place trophy; though it's better than nothing, civil union is nevertheless a symbol that they've lost the game as it grants them fewer rights than those entitled to the winning team of married heterosexual couples. By revoking the rights of gays to marry, Massachusetts legislators would not only be sending this message of failure to gays in my state, but to those in other states as well. And, if the supposedly most liberal state of them all couldn't succeed in legislating gay marriage for longer than a hamster's life span, how would other, more politically divided states fair?

What's worse: Romney is now garnering support from more politically moderate residents to sign his petition by claiming that Massachusetts legislators violated the Constitution when they voted to recess instead of voting on his ban. Perhaps Romney needs a lesson in Constitutional Law 101: legislators cannot put the rights of a minority up for popular contest. As much as Romney alleges that state legislators are practicing tyranny over democracy, his own ruling would be an imposition of the will of those in power on the people.

As a citizen of Massachusetts, I've witnessed Romney's poor legislative decisions not only in his gay marriage obsession, but also in his cutbacks to state funding that left police and teachers out of jobs, shut down programs that helped the elderly and the homeless, and caused my town's library to close down for a year. I'm counting the days until January, when Duvall Patrick, a fervent supporter of gay marriage, will take over as governor. Still, Romney has enough time to do some definite damage to the rights of homosexuals. If we can keep Romney's hands tied and mouth shut until we say goodbye (and good riddance), Massachusetts can preserve itself as the prototype for political progress.