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| Male inmates' bid to marry denied |
| By Boston Globe |
| Published: 04/18/2005 |
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The Mass. Department of Correction has denied permission to two male inmates to marry at a state facility for sex offenders, according to a letter signed by the prison superintendent and obtained by the Boston Globe. Essie Billingslea and Bruce Hatt, committed to the Massachusetts Treatment Center, requested permission to marry in early February. Superintendent Robert Murphy denied it because of ''very serious security concerns," and yesterday, Governor Mitt Romney's chief spokesman said the governor agreed with the decision. ''A wedding/marriage between you and resident Bruce Hatt would present a significant security risk to the Massachusetts Treatment Center and the Department of Correction," Murphy wrote in a March 23 letter to Billingslea. ''A marriage between two residents . . . would have a direct impact on the orderly running of the facility." The letter was released yesterday, as the same-sex marriage debate returned to Beacon Hill. Legislators presided over a packed hearing on eight bills relating to same-sex marriage, including one to remove Supreme Judicial Court justices who ruled in favor of same-sex marriage in November 2003. Eric Fehrnstrom, Romney's communications director, said the governor supports the Correction Department's stance in denying permission for the marriage. Supporters of same-sex marriage said the timing of the letter's release was suspect. ''It seems likely that supporters of Governor Romney are trying to diminish the validity of our relationships by connecting us to sexual predators," said Arline Isaacson, cochairwoman of the Massachusetts Gay and Lesbian Political Caucus. The Correction Department has received two other requests for same-sex marriages from inmates since such marriage became legal last May. One case was denied because, like the one disclosed yesterday, it involved two male inmates housed in the same facility, a department spokeswoman said. The other request was approved, because it involved the marriage of a female inmate to a woman who is not in prison. Inmates have a constitutional right to marry in Massachusetts, but the department considers requests on a case-by-case basis. |
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