Gay marriage ban wins preliminary approval, but debate to continue
The Associated Press
BC-MA--Gay Marriage-Constitution, BC-MA--Gay Marriage-Process, BC-MA--Gay Marriage-Timeline, BC-MA--Gay Marriage-Quotes With AP Photo japktlmpktbjc By JENNIFER PETER Associated Press Writer
BOSTON (AP) - Massachusetts lawmakers took a step closer to approving a constitutional amendment that would strip gay couples of their right to marry, but the debate that has caught the attention of the nation was far from over.
After logging more than 30 hours of intense deliberations over the course of two months, lawmakers ended their impasse Thursday by stopping just short of final approval to a proposed constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex marriage but make Massachusetts only the second state to grant civil-union benefits to same-sex couples.

Rather than go past midnight, lawmakers recessed their constitutional convention and planned to resume the debate on March 29


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Heartbreak at City Hall
By J.K. Dineen
As suddenly as it had begun, The City's gay-marriage revolution was over. At 2:33 p.m. Thursday, as couples exchanged vows under the City Hall rotunda and others filled out their matrimonial paperwork, the county clerk took a call from the mayor, who had taken a call from the City Attorney's Office, which had taken a call from someone from the state Supreme Court.