HUGE VICTORY:

Transgender rights bill, out-of-state "gay marriage" bill, all other pro-homosexual bills stopped in Judiciary Committee after massive pressure by pro-family movement!

Homosexual lobby vows to keep fighting this session.

Some "good" bills also swept away, unfortunately.

BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS (MARCH 20, 2008) On Wednesday afternoon, March 19 – the deadline for deciding – the Joint Judiciary Committee responded to massive public outcry and dealt a huge blow to the homosexual movement by essentially killing a whole range bills that the gay lobby has been attempting to push into law this year.

Some of these bills (see complete list below) would have severely affected society both in Massachusetts and even around the country. Bill S800 would have allowed out-of-state same-sex couples to get “legally married” in Massachusetts, causing havoc across America. Bill H1722, the Transgender Rights and Hate Crimes Bill, is probably the most radical legislation ever seriously considered by the Legislature, and would have forced legal acceptance of “transgenderism” throughout society (including restrooms and schools) and made it a hate crime to criticize the behavior. In all, there were a half-dozen particularly destructive bills that the Committee would likely have passed were it not for your public outcry.

H1722 - major project of the homosexual movement

The Transgender Rights and Hate Crimes Bill (H1722) was the major project this year of the homosexual movement in Massachusetts. This was their next step in their march to change our culture. As described in the media back in January, pushing H1722 through the Legislature was a joint effort by the state's major homosexual activist groups and lobbying groups, plus numerous fringe groups such as the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition (MTPC). This was a serious campaign. They held (at least) two big State House lobbying events and several letter-writing and lobbying efforts. They heavily lobbied key legislators. They dominated the March 4 public hearing with a well-coordinated barrage of 22 “expert” panels and hours of emotional testimony. The bill had the vocal support of dozens of other Massachusetts liberal organizations, and even state agencies. Gov. Deval Patrick, Attorney General Martha Coakley, and Congressman Barney Frank formally endorsed the bill and submitted testimony in favor of it. It had 25 co-sponsors and many other supporters in the Legislature.

So what happened?

We went at them full blast. We published an explosive 125-page report on the bill and exposed exactly what it would do. We went on the media – newspaper, Internet news, and radio – and further exposed the bill and the movement behind it. We made sure that literally thousands of you contacted the Legislature and demanded that this bill not go forward. And we made sure the Judiciary Committee got our explicit testimony at their public hearing (including medical documentation!) even though they clearly didn’t want to hear it.

Homosexual lobby NOT giving up!

This is unquestionably a major defeat for the homosexual movement in Massachusetts. They had put enormous resources and emotional capital into this and had not anticipated it would get derailed by pro-family pressure.

The homosexual lobby has vowed to try to get H1722 out of study before the July 31 end of the session, and get it passed, although they admit the odds are against it. Bill Conley, head lobbyist for the Mass Gay and Lesbian Political Caucus has announced that they plan to pressure the committee into taking it out of study at some point before July 31, and that they’re organizing to further “explain” their position to committee members. But as the homosexual newspaper Bay Windows reported, “Conley said it will be difficult to get the bill passed before the end of the session.” And don't worry -- we'll be keeping the pressure on, also! We'll keep you posted.

Some good bills also get swept away.

Admittedly, we put most of our energy into making sure that the bad bills didn’t move forward. But there were several good bills, some introduced by MassResistance, that in a perfect world would have moved forward and become law. We weren’t able to make it happen this time, but the Committee did hear our voices and they know we’re not going away on these issues. They know also where the sentiment of the people lies - and it's not with the special interests.

As we said, this fight is not over. There’s still a lot to go. But as we’ve been saying, this battle can – and will – be won.

HERE ARE THE BILLS THAT GOT STOPPED!!