In Bay Windows, “New England’s Largest GLBT Newspaper,” Sue O’Connell writes that Jay Severin now supports – or at least does not oppose — “what he used to call ‘homosexual marriage’.” (Actually, Sue, he used to call it “ho-ho-homosexual marriage.”) You can hear Jay’s actual words here. (For laughs, check out the “transcript” to the right. The score is Jay Severin 1, voice recognition software 0.)
Jay wasn’t merely opposed to same-sex marriage in the past. He was one of those saying a man could no more marry a man than a penguin and all that rot. He did say, back when the Massachusetts legislature was contemplating a constitutional action to ban same-sex marriage, that same-sex couples should be afforded most if not all of the legal rights afforded to opposite-sex married couples. I’m pretty sure he excluded anything from the public treasury, though, such as Social Security survivor benefits. But he was adamantly opposed to using the word “marriage” to describe such a union. He even went as far as to say that the State should get out of the marriage business altogether rather than to confer legal status on a same-sex couple.
If he’s actually changed his mind on this, it might be the most substantial reversal of position I’ve heard from him in nearly nine years of listening. It would show that his brain is not immune to logic after all. I hope I get a chance to ask him sometime how he now feels about his earlier vitriol. I’d love to hear his defense.