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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
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