Massachusetts lawmakers have changed their minds

Today, 6,500 marriages later, the Massachusetts legislature defeated by a stunning 4-to-1 margin the "compromise" constitutional amendment that it narrowly passed last year, which would simultaneously ban gay marriage and create civil unions. Many legislators who voted for the amendment last year say that they've simply changed their minds in the past year.

Because the measure did not pass the legislature two years in a row, it WILL NOT go to the voters next year. The religious right is now collecting signatures in an effort to get an amendment banning both gay marriage and civil unions on the ballot in 2008 - when thousands of same-sex couples will be celebrating their fifth wedding anniversaries.