MASSACHUSETTS Gays are poised to marry as chance becomes available

One woman said she and her partner just want the same rights as others.
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
BOSTON -- At a moment past midnight Monday, Jennifer Hess and Jennifer Bragdon will officially tell the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the world that they plan to marry. They have waited 18 years for this chance, one that may not last if opponents ultimately find a way to override a court decision that will make this the first state to conduct same-sex marriages.
"I'm doing this to protect my family," said Hess, 39, who is rearing two children with Bragdon. "This just gives us the same rights as our neighbors have."
Then, like a bride-to-be, she added: "It's exciting. It's definitely exciting."
Staid, button-down Boston, where many streets are still cobblestoned and argyle vests are considered legitimate fashion, once again is fomenting revolution. Across Massachusetts, gay couples are lining up to marry starting Monday. They are buying wedding rings and planning celebratory clambakes and formal dinners. They are ordering bouquets and boutonnieres and renting "His and His" tuxes or buying two wedding gowns.
Trying to stop them
The opposition, meanwhile, has tried to head off the marriages, and is holding protests.
Gov. Mitt Romney, who opposes same-sex marriage, may try to enforce a 1913 state law forbidding town clerks to issue licenses to out-of-state couples whose marriages would be illegal where they live.
A group of state lawmakers and conservative activists sought an injunction to stop Monday's marriages, but a federal appeals court and the U.S. Supreme Court turned them down Friday.
Some lawmakers are working toward a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, but that process would take at least until 2006.
The Boston Archdiocese greeted the imminent legalization Friday with "deep sadness," though it cautioned against vilifying "our homosexual brothers and sisters."
Opponents of same-sex marriage held a protest Friday night at Faneuil Hall, and planned a pray-in Monday on the steps of Boston City Hall.
"This cause rises to a level of something that is basic to our nature," said the Rev. Michael Carl, pastor of the Greenwood Union Church in Wakefield, Mass., who organized the Faneuil Hall protest. "The basic unit is the family. Redefining it is not what we need to be doing."
State court's ruling
The revolution kicked into high gear Nov. 18 when the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled, 4-3, that gay couples had a right to marry, and ordered the state to allow same-sex unions within 180 days. The repercussions were broad and immediate, with states around the country revisiting their marriage statutes and weighing constitutional bans, and President Bush backing a federal amendment to bar same-sex marriage.
Despite the opposition, the planning for same-sex weddings has gone forward here. Official celebrations were to begin tonight, with gays, their friends and families holding "Countdown to Equality" parties.
At 11 p.m. EDT today, Cambridge officials will hold a celebration in city council chambers with wedding cake for couples who come to file a form announcing their plans to marry. At midnight, the clerk's office will open to start accepting those forms. Cambridge officials said they did not know how many applicants to expect.
For many same-sex couples, the decision to marry is as much practical as emotional.
"This means the world to me," said Guy Plourdes, who runs the Black Pearl Inn in Provincetown with his partner of four years, Luis Vargas. "Luis means the world to me. I'm overwhelmed."