Greensboro PFLAG newsletter, October 2004

              tif&n% fiw\k$ Jiid Friciidf of lesbians and Gays
GREENSBORO, N.C.
Vol. 11  No. 10
October, 2004
House defeats marriage amendment
The U.S. House defeated a proposed constitutional
amendment to ban same-sex marriage on Thursday
afternoon following a heated debate over gay rights and the
institution of marriage.
The Marriage Protection Amendment, formerly
known as the Federal Marriage Amendment, received a
majority vote of 227 House members in favor and 186
opposed, with 20 members not voting.
But the measure fell 49 votes short of the two-thirds
majority needed to pass a constitutional amendment.
House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) led
the debate in favor of the amendment, saying the measure
was needed to protect the institution of marriage.
The vote fell largely along partisan lines, with most
Democrats voting against it and a majority of Republicans
backing the amendment. However, gay groups lobbying
against the amendment, including the national gay group
Log Cabin Republicans, praised what they called a "solid"
contingent of House Republicans who broke ranks from
their leaders to vote against the measure.
One hundred ninety one Republicans and 36
Democrats voted for the amendment; 27 Republicans and
158 Democrats voted against it. The sole House
independent, Rep. Barnard Sanders of Vermont, voted
against it.
The Senate defeated a similar constitutional
amendment seeking to ban gay marriage in July by
procedural vote, with 48 senators in favor and 50 against the
measure. Backers fell 19 votes short of the two-thirds
majority needed to pass that measure.
Gay civil rights groups and their congressional
allies in both parties criticized the House GOP leadership for
bringing the amendment up this week, less than two months
before the U.S. presidential and congressional elections.
They argued that the amendment's defeat in the Senate
killed its chances of ever becoming enacted and made a
House vote meaningless.
Or@eosb®r® PFLAS
October meeting
October 19, 7:30 p.m.
Friendship Friends Meeting Hoys©
1103 Mew Garden
Welcome to PFLAG. We offer a safe,
confidential space in which to explore our feelings and
understandings about the gay experience, especially
"coming out" and what this means to families and other
loved ones. Listen and share as much or as little as you
feel comfortable with, knowing that others can
understand. Welcome especially to our returning
members whose love is so healing.
"Since the discriminatory constitutional amendment
was first proposed last February, voters saw the proposal for
what it is: a cynical political ploy to distract voters from the
enormous foreign policy and domestic challenges facing
America," said Cheryl Jacques, president of the Human
Rights Campaign, the nation's largest gay political group.
DeLay and more than a dozen House Republicans
argued in a debate that lasted more than two and a half hours
that the amendment was needed to protect the institution of
marriage.
"Peter and Paul can be great fathers, but they can't
be a mother," DeLay said. "A man and a woman transfer
values to their children," he said, adding, "The values of our
nation are with one man and one woman" who marry and
have children.
Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), who is gay, joined
his two openly gay House colleagues, Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-
Ariz.) and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.) in arguing against the
amendment.
Frank said he and his constituents in Massachusetts
were especially outraged that supporters of a federal
constitutional amendment were attempting to deny his state
the right to decide on the question of gay marriage on the
state level.
With same-sex marriage legalized in Massachusetts
through a ruling by the state's Supreme Judicial Court,
Frank noted that the Massachusetts Legislature and a
possible statewide voter referendum should be the vehicle
used to decide the issue, not a federal constitutional
amendment imposed by Congress.
Turning to the merits of the issue, Frank said he
found it hard to understand why backers of the amendment
feel gays seeking to marry would harm the institution of
marriage.
"I'm a gay man," he said. "We are not assaulting
marriage. We are human beings. We also feel love."
Saying gays admire and support the institution of
marriage, Frank added, "How does it hurt you if we share it?
What is it you are protecting yourself against?"