Mass. Provides Calif. a Preview of Gay Marriage

What happens next? West Coast need only look to East Coast
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted May 17, 2008 9:50 AM CDT
Mass. Provides Calif. a Preview of Gay Marriage
Jennifer Pizer, right and her partner Doreena Wong cut a wedding cake during a street celebration of Thursday's California Supreme Court ruling that gay couples in the state can marry.   (AP Photo/Hector Mata)

Californians readying for same-sex marriage can look to Massachusetts for a preview of what’s to come, the Los Angeles Times reports. “Massachusetts has been like the reality TV show for gay marriage,” says an author of a book on the subject. And so far, she says, it’s been a success. It's become so ordinary that one kindergartner asked her teacher, who was wearing a new wedding band, if he had married a boy or a girl.

At least one state legislator formerly against the legalization has changed his mind. “I listened to story after story, and I found out they only want what everyone else wants—the opportunity to live in happiness and dignity,” he said. Still, some continue to oppose the measure. “Marriage has been denigrated. It has been cheapened,” says an activist who adds that California’s ruling has “exacerbated” the issue. (More Massachusetts stories.)

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