House Speaker Tom Finneran said Thursday that lawmakers are considering taking no action in response to the Supreme Judicial Court's landmark gay marriage ruling.The state's highest court ruled last month that it is unconstitutional to deny gay couples the rights and benefits of marriage and gave the Legislature 180 days to rewrite the state's marriage laws to provide such benefits.
But Finneran told a gathering of newspaper publishers that lawmakers are weighing the option of allowing the 180-day period to pass without taking any legislative action.
"No action is always an option," Finneran said in his first public comments since the SJC's Nov. 18 ruling. But he did not say whether he believes the ruling would automatically take effect if the 180 days expires without a change in law.The powerful Democratic speaker also said he had no plans to withdraw his support for a proposed amendment to the state constitution that would define marriage as a union between one man and one woman.
Finneran said the high court's ruling left important questions unanswered, such as whether other states would be required to recognize the Massachusetts marriages of gay couples.
"If a gay couple or lesbian couple gets married in Massachusetts and moves to Kansas, I don't know what the federal constitution is going to impose in terms of recognition about the validity of that relationship under Kansas law," said Finneran, D-Boston.
"It is a decision that has very serious implications -- legal, cultural, social implications -- for 270 million Americans," he said.
