Same-sex marriage foes press for vote

Published 9:00 pm Tuesday, June 22, 2004

WASHINGTON – With little hope of success, Senate Republicans pledged on Tuesday to forge ahead with a vote on a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriages.

Democratic opponents said they had more than 40 votes against the amendment, which needs 67 of the 100 senators to pass. Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, acknowledged that Democrats will stage a filibuster, but he said, “This is so serious, sociologically and in so many other ways, that we do need to vote on it on the floor, one way or another.”

Senate Democrats said the GOP is playing politics with the highly contentious issue by forcing a vote in mid-July, right before the Democratic National Convention, where Sen. John Kerry is expected to receive his party’s presidential nomination.

Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, whose state is the only one to recognize gay marriages, urged the Senate Judiciary Committee to pass the amendment banning same-sex unions, even as the conservative who wrote a federal law denying recognition to such marriages said that law was sufficient.

Former Rep. Bob Barr, R-Ga., who is opposed to gay marriages, told the committee that the Constitution shouldn’t be used as a vehicle to strangle states rights. His remarks suggested that some of the strongest opposition to the proposed amendment may come from conservatives who abhor gay unions.

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, predicted the Senate vote would fail, and then “it is incumbent on the House to actually pass an amendment to put pressure back on the Senate to have a vote again.”