Attorney General Reilly certified the language and format of petitions as valid on September 7, 2005. Advocates of same-sex marriage objected that the proposed amendment was clearly designed to reverse the SJC decision, a violation of the State Constitution's rule that amendments could not be used for that purpose. Deval Patrick, Reilly's principal opponent for the Democratic nomination for governor, said "There was a strong argument that this should have gone a different way." Massachusetts Secretary of State William F. Galvin said: "I think this is one of those instances where the institution of gay marriage may be less divisive to society than the referendum campaign will be. The emotions that this kind of issue brings out can be very detrimental to society. It has been around for a year and any honest person can conclude that it has not been detrimental to society."