Anger Over Gay Marriage Decision Continues To Smolder

BOSTON -- One year ago Thursday, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court upheld gay marriage -- a decision that set off waves of reaction across the country.

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Amalia Barreda Reports On Gay Marriage

NewsCenter 5's Amalia Barreda reported that in Massachusetts, the battle over a proposed constitutional amendment banning gay marriage appears far from over. Anger against the Supreme Judicial Court decision continues to smolder.

Thursday's protest against gay marriage featured a Margaret Marshall impersonator. The unidentified woman pretended to be the chief justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court symbolically burning the state constitution. The event was staged as a call to remove the real Marshall and the three other justices who joined her in last year's decision that banning gay marriage would violate the state constitution.

"We are going to have the judges removed through a bill of address which is a constitutional remedy for this kind of a thing. The root of the problem is the judges, and that's what has to be resolved by the people," said Brian Camenker, who is against gay marriage.

"Everybody has a right to their opinions, but I don't think that is reflective of the overwhelming majority of the people in the commonwealth of Massachusetts. They have a responsibility of interpreting the laws as they see it and they were fulfilling the responsibilities of their position," Senate President Robert Travaglini said.

Travaglini said he would preside over a second constitutional convention that will take up his proposed amendment to ban same sex marriage and establish civil unions. The amendment passed last year under the leadership of co-sponsor and then House Speaker Tom Finneran. Finneran is now gone, but Travaglini refuses to characterize the amendment as dead.

"I know I had consensus at the last constitutional conventional and when the time is appropriate we'll do a little reconnaissance to see what the pulse of the body is," Travaglini said.

A source said that the constitutional convention would probably be convened between April and June. A spokesperson for House Speaker Sal Di Masi said that his support for gay marriage is well documented. Once the convention is convened, he expects people to vote their conscience without any arm-twisting.