Good news out of Massachusetts

(Boy, it's not easy to find something that's not AP sometimes... I almost had to link to Fox! But Reuters came through for me, and so did the NY Times.)

Following a vote by the state Senate two weeks ago, the House of Representatives voted on Tuesday to repeal a 1913 law that prevented Massachusetts from marrying out-of-state couples if their marriages would not be legal in their home states.

The vote of 118 to 35 followed about 45 minutes of debate. Gov. Deval Patrick said he would sign the repeal.

This is important not just for the overwhelming margin of approval (and it was unanimous in the Senate), but because it's a rebuke to the politics of hate (my italics):

Massachusetts in 2004 became the first U.S. state to permit legal marriages of same-sex couples, but then-Gov. Mitt Romney, a Republican, told state officials to obey the 1913 law, which dates back to a time when some American states banned interracial marriages. Legislators who voted for the repeal described the move as a matter of fairness, noting Massachusetts for decades had ignored the law when heterosexual couples sought to marry in the state.

"This law has not been enforced, looked upon or even talked about ... it should not be allowed to prevent gay and lesbian couples and their families from taking part in what is rightfully and legally theirs," said Paul Loscocco, a Republican who voted in favor of the repeal. "This law has applied a double standard to certain couples and it needs to be repealed."

Here's one of the most important things about this:

Michael Thorne, 55, and his partner, James Theberge, 50, of Cape Elizabeth, Me., said they planned to marry in Provincetown, Mass. Mr. Thorne said he and Mr. Theberge had declined to register as domestic partners in Maine, where same-sex marriage and civil unions are illegal, because it would have felt like “willingly going to sit in the back of the bus.”

He said, “we made a commitment to our 6-year-old a couple of years ago that we would get married, and he won’t let us off the hook. He has a little brother now who’s 8 months old and that makes it important for both of these guys to demonstrate to them our commitment to be a family for them, and to be a family as legitimate as any other.”

Family.

It's a word we need to reclaim, and a group we need to genuinely honor and care for.