{"id":4994,"date":"2003-11-18T12:28:04","date_gmt":"2003-11-18T19:28:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/?p=4994"},"modified":"2003-11-18T12:28:04","modified_gmt":"2003-11-18T19:28:04","slug":"decisions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2003\/11\/18\/decisions.html","title":{"rendered":"Decisions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Marriage is a vital social institution. The exclusive commitment of two individuals to each other nurtures love and mutual support; it brings stability to our society. For those who choose to marry, and for their children, marriage provides an abundance of legal, financial, and social benefits. In return it imposes weighty legal, financial, and social obligations. The question before us is whether, consistent with the Massachusetts Constitution, the Commonwealth may deny the protections, benefits, and obligations conferred by civil marriage to two individuals of the same sex who wish to marry.
\nWe conclude that it may not. The Massachusetts Constitution affirms the dignity and equality of all individuals. It forbids the creation of second-class citizens. In reaching our conclusion we have given full deference to the arguments made by the Commonwealth. But it has failed to identify any constitutionally adequate reason for denying civil marriage to same-sex couples.<\/p>\n

‘Nuff said<\/a>.<\/p>\n

(via InstaPundit<\/a>)<\/small><\/p>\n

UPDATE<\/u>: Decision link changed to something that actually works.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Marriage is a vital social institution. The exclusive commitment of two individuals to each other nurtures love and mutual support; it brings stability to our society. For those who choose…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4994","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics-law"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6184,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2004\/04\/30\/see.html","url_meta":{"origin":4994,"position":0},"title":"See?","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 30-Apr-04 6:11am","format":false,"excerpt":"This should have conservatives -- or at least supporters of marriage -- dancing in the streets, or so you'd think. Now that it is about to be legal for same-sex...","rel":"","context":"In "Marriage Equality"","block_context":{"text":"Marriage Equality","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law\/marriage-equality"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":15157,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2009\/07\/09\/go-massachusetts-go.html","url_meta":{"origin":4994,"position":1},"title":"Go, Massachusetts, Go!","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 9-Jul-09 11:20am","format":false,"excerpt":"The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is suing the Federal Government over the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). The federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) interferes with the right of Massachusetts to define and regulate marriage as it sees fit, Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley said. The 1996 law denies federal\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "LGBTQ &c"","block_context":{"text":"LGBTQ &c","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/gay-stuff"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":18059,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2010\/08\/04\/a-little-rationality-creeps-into-california.html","url_meta":{"origin":4994,"position":2},"title":"A little rationality creeps into California","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 4-Aug-10 5:15pm","format":false,"excerpt":"As you can tell by the high-pitched screams from certain quarters, Federal Judge Vaughn Walker has overturned California's Proposition 8 (decision here).\u00a0 The nitty-gritty: Proposition 8 fails to advance any rational basis in singling out gay men and lesbians for denial of a marriage license. Indeed, the evidence shows Proposition\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "LGBTQ &c"","block_context":{"text":"LGBTQ &c","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/gay-stuff"},"img":{"alt_text":"Themis, Blind Justice","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/blind-justice-themis-219x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5479,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2004\/03\/04\/if_it_walks_dow.html","url_meta":{"origin":4994,"position":3},"title":"If it walks down the aisle like a duck …","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 4-Mar-04 10:12am","format":false,"excerpt":"John Kerry has (maybe) backed making state gay civil unions functionally equivalent to marriage as far as federal rights and benefits are concerned. \"It's the first time in history that...","rel":"","context":"In "Elections 2004"","block_context":{"text":"Elections 2004","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law\/elections-2004"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13595,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2008\/11\/06\/fighting_proposition_8.html","url_meta":{"origin":4994,"position":4},"title":"Fighting Proposition 8","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 6-Nov-08 3:41pm","format":false,"excerpt":"The battle against Prop. 8, which amended the California Constitution to ban gay marriage, is not over. From Gloria Allred (emphasis mine): On May 15, 2008, after we waged a...","rel":"","context":"In "Elections 2008"","block_context":{"text":"Elections 2008","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law\/elections-2008"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":24588,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2011\/12\/16\/in-sickness-and-in-health.html","url_meta":{"origin":4994,"position":5},"title":"In sickness and in health","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 16-Dec-11 6:54am","format":false,"excerpt":"It's been long known that marriage makes for healthier individuals, overall. Life expectancy is higher among married couples than singles, etc. Whether it's a matter of general happiness, or having someone else to care for you, or whatever, it's a pretty clear effect.So it's not at all surprising that the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4994","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4994"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4994\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4994"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4994"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4994"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}