House Rejects Constitutional Amendment to Ban Gay Marriage

Conservatives were disappointed but not disheartened when the House rejected a proposed constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage on Tuesday. The vote was 236 to 187 in favor of the amendment, a slight improvement over the last time the House voted on the proposal in 2004, when the vote was 227-186 in favor. However, 47 votes are still needed for the 2/3 majority required to approve a constitutional amendment.

Although the proposal was defeated in the House, there have been a number of victories at the state level where legislatures, voters, and court systems have approved gay marriage bans. There are 45 states with constitutional amendments or statutes banning same-sex weddings. Massachusetts is the only state that allows gay marriage, but even the state supreme court there recently ruled that a proposed constitutional amendment to ban future gay marriages can be placed on the ballot this fall for voters to decide the issue.

Supporters of the federal ban insist that it is needed to control the actions of judges at the state level who have ruled in favor of gay marriages. Pennsylvania Rep. Joe Pitts told Congress, "We must not allow an institution of such great importance to be arbitrarily redefined for the entire nation by a small number of unelected judges." President Bush has campaigned for a constitutional amendment resolving the issue at a federal level, and the Republican Party’s conservative base has demanded that the proposal be approved. "The administration believes that the future of marriage in America should be decided through the democratic constitutional amendment process, rather than by the court orders of a few," the White House said in a statement.

The proposed amendment says that "marriage in the United States shall consist only of the union of a man and a woman. Neither the Constitution, nor the constitution of any state, shall be construed to require that marriage or the legal incidents thereof be conferred upon any union other than the union of a man and a woman."

The Family Research Council, one of the groups leading the support of the amendment will put out a voter scorecard that will go to millions of Americans before elections this fall. Colorado Rep. Marilyn Musgrave agrees with the idea of having voters weigh in on the issue individually. "The overwhelming majority of the American people support traditional marriage," Musgrave said. "And the people have a right to know whether their elected representatives agree with them."

Democrats say that the House’s focus on the "American values agenda" this week is a distraction at a time when the nation is facing serious domestic and international problems. Votes this week will be held on a bill to protect the Pledge of Allegiance and a vote on President Bush’s expected veto of an embryonic stem cell bill.

Rep. Mike Pence of Indiana, the conservative leader of the House, said that the results of the vote today mean it was a "successful failure," because the number of votes in favor increased, albeit a slight increase. "We poured a little more concrete in the footings of a building that will be built," Pence said. House Speaker Dennis Hastert echoed those sentiments by telling reporters, "Be assured that this issue is not over."