Marriage Amendment Supporters Vow to Fight On
Susan Jones and Melanie Hunter
Editors

(CNSNews.com) - Supporters of a federal marriage amendment vow to keep fighting to protect traditional marriage, even though the Senate on Wednesday was unable to muster the 60 votes needed to proceed with the Marriage Protection Amendment.

The Senate voted 49-48 on a motion to cut off debate and proceed to a vote on the amendment itself. Sixty votes are required to cut off debate, and 67 are required to pass a constitutional amendment.

Wednesday's vote also fell short of the simple majority that marriage defenders were hoping to attain.

"Today's vote is yet another sign that far too many U.S. senators have abandoned even the appearance of voting the will of their constituents," said Focus on the Family Founder and Chairman James Dobson in a statement.

He noted that voters in 20 states have passed amendments defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman. "It's an outrage that not even a simple majority of senators will take the stand on this issue that their constituents want them to take," said Dobson.

"We and millions of other conservatives are committed to doing what it takes, for as long as it takes, to see that the great institution of marriage is protected from renegade judges," he concluded.

Matt Daniels, president and founder of the Alliance for Marriage, said the debate over marriage is being forced upon the American people by the courts.

He noted that Washington State is only one court order away from following the example of the Massachusetts courts by striking down state marriage laws "as an alleged expression of bigotry and hatred."

Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, called the Senate "grossly out of step with the American people" for voting down the amendment.

Perkins also noted that 20 states have now passed constitutional amendments protecting marriage, and another 26 states have passed statutes to that effect.

"That's 46 out of 50 states that have taken extra steps to define marriage as being between a man and a woman," Perkins noted.

"The people have spoken on this issue. But the Senate has ignored them." He added that while tens of millions of Americans have voted to defend marriage, 48 senators -- and 3 who did not vote - "are serving as ring bearers for same-sex 'marriage.'"

Fidelis, a Catholic-based advocacy organization, noted that every Democrat with the exception of Senators Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Robert Byrd of West Virginia voted to block a vote on the amendment.

So did Republican Sens. John McCain, Susan Collins, Olympia Snowe, Judd Gregg, Arlen Specter, Lincoln Chafee and John Sununu. (Specter and Gregg supported a same-sex marriage ban in 2004.)

Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel and Democratic Sens. Chris Dodd and Jay Rockefeller were absent and did not vote on Wednesday.

Sen. Wayne Allard (R-Colo.), who sponsored the Marriage Protection Amendment, said if he had a choice, the Senate would vote on the proposed amendment every year.

"The Constitution will be amended whether we pass the Marriage Protection Amendment or not; the only question is whether it will be amended through the amendment process or by unelected, activist judges," Allard said in a statement on his website.

'Victory'

"Victory!" declared one homosexual advocacy group after Wednesday's vote.

"President Bush and the Republican leadership gambled their dwindling political capital on a discriminatory amendment and came up empty," said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese.

"With the addition of Senators Specter and Gregg, not only did every senator who voted against discrimination in 2004 stand with us today but momentum is on the side of equality. This is a resounding defeat against discrimination."

Solmonese said if the House now takes up a measure that is "dead and twice-failed," it will prove that "this is nothing more than election-year posturing."