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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 5, 2003)
17 news S O M A N Y S H O E S ... T a ke C over * Federal Marriage Amendment introduced in U.S. Senate by B o b R o e h r he other shoe dropped on the Fed eral Marriage Amendment when five Republican senators intro duced it in that body Nov. 25. T he anti-gay-marriage consti- tutional amendment was first introduced in the House some 18 months ago and now has 108 co sponsors. T h e lead sponsors in the Senate are Wayne Allard o f Colorado, Sam Brownback of Kansas, Jim Bunning of Kentucky, James Inhofe of Oklahoma and Jeff Sessions of Alabama. Unlike their House colleagues, at this point the senators have not enlisted any Democratic sponsors or, for that matter, any Republicans who are not extremely conservative. T his sug gests tough going to reach the two-thirds major ity necessary to pass an amendment. Allard called his proposal “a starting point for a more comprehensive discussion” and not necessar ily the final format that an amendment might take. “The Constitution is a masterpiece of liberty and freedom. Girrupting this precious document to score cheap political px>ints is frankly obscene," said Patrick Guerriero, Log Cabin Republicans executive director. “True conservatives would never alter our Constitution for political purposes." Log Gibin has gone on record as saying it could not endorse or support a politician who backs the amendment. Gay conservative Andrew Sullivan has pointed out that the current wording of the amendment, should it pass, raises a very real legal question of whether churches that perform same-sex marriages would he violating the C o n stitution. T he issue of separation of church and state is not an insignificant matter. “This is a misuse of the Constitution— a dim inuent that, since the Bill of Rights, has been amended sparingly and only to expand individ ual rights and protections," said Elizabeth Birch, Human Rights Campaign executive director. “This amendment goes much further than deny ing the right to marry; it would also deny tax- paying Americans things as fundamental as Sixrial Security survivor benefits and the right to visit a loved one in the hi>spital.” Many legal scholars agree with Birch that the amendment would prohibit civil unions and other recognition of same-sex unions that do not carry the title of marriage. M itch Daniels, head of the Alliance for Marriage and chief pro ponent of the amendment, says it would not. But other social conservatives want to make sure it does. They are toying with language that would effectively ban all such recognition. It is a source o f some turmoil among those groups on the far right. “This amendment has very little to do with marriage as such, and everything to do with homo- sexuality,” said Sullivan, writing in The N ew Republic Online. "If the social right wanted to shore up marriage, they could propose an amendment tightening up divorce laws.. .but they haven’t. The amendment is simply— and baldly— an attempt to ostracize a minority of Americans tor good. It is an attempt to write them mit of their own country." George F Will wrote in his syndicated column published Nov. 50 in The Washington Post: "Amend ing the Constitution to define marriage as between a man and a woman wmild he unwise tor two rea- sons. G institutionalizing social policy is generally a misuse of fundamental law. And it would be espe cially împnxknt to end state responsibility for mar riage law at a moment when we require evidence of the sort that can be generated hv allowing the states to he laboratories of social policy." He joins a growing list of the nations most prominent conservative commentators who are opposed to the amendment. Some, David | notably 1 Brixiks and W il liam Satire, have even acknowledged positive aspects to extending civil marriage to same- sex couples. Meanwhile in Massachusetts, for mer Republican Gov. William Weld told The Boston G lobe that the state Supreme Judicial C ourt’s Nov. 18 decision “is a thun derbolt, but a thun derbolt correctly heard.... It reminds me of some of the early civil rights cases, when the Warren court all hut said, someUxly has to do this." The fixir Catho lic Bishops of Mass achusetts disagree. In a letter read from the pulpit Nov. 50, they called the cixirt’s decision “a national tragedy” that will only "erixle even further the institution of marriage." They urged legislators to delay implementa tion of the mling. O ne factor that might limit or at least delay a broader national impact of same- sex marriage in M assachusetts is that the current law precludes non residents from marrying if that union would not he recognized in | their home state. 1 But the whole question of who is a “resident” is murky and not de 1 fined by law for purposes of mar riage. Traditional ly town clerks have simply ac T h e legion of di>om— cepted the word of from top, U .S . Sens. ; those applying for W ayne A llard, Sam the license. j n B row n back, Jim B u nning, Jam es Inhofe B or Ri'ttm is a and Je ff Sessions— free-lance reporter fearlessly protecting the based m nation from sam e-sex Washington, D.C. marriage AN D JU S T O N E P A IR OF G LASSES? 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