Divisive Federal Marriage Amendment Dies in the Senate
Feature Story by civilrights.org staff - 6/9/2006
Civil rights advocates applauded the May 7 Senate vote (49-48) rejecting the proposed Federal Marriage Amendment (FMA), a measure that would have written discrimination into the U.S. Constitution for the first time in the history of the country."Congress' rejection of the so-called Federal Marriage Amendment is heartening," said Wade Henderson, executive director of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, after the vote. "Our leaders need to be focusing on expanding our civil rights and finding solutions to pressing national issues - such as health and education, a living wage, and fair housing - not promoting discrimination in the Constitution. Today's vote reaffirms the Constitution's 225-year track record of giving freedoms, not taking them away."
If passed, the FMA would have banned same-sex marriage in the United States and prohibited any state from legally recognizing any marriage other than one between a man and a woman. It would have also prohibited states from allowing civil unions and other alternatives to same-sex marriage.
The Senate debated for three days, during which time President Bush, who supported the amendment, described the issue of same-sex marriage as a "national question" that required "a national solution." Civil rights advocates countered that the FMA was a "solution in search of a problem."
At a briefing on May 9, Henderson said that the Bill of Rights and the subsequent amendments were designed to expand and protect the rights of citizens, not restrict them.
Henderson joined Congressman John Lewis, D. Ga., Sen. Ted Kennedy, D. Mass., Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese, and progressive ministers, at a press conference June 6 to denounce the FMA as a political ploy by the Republican Party to divide the electorate in a critical election year.
The speakers were flanked by opponents of the bill who wore t-shirts that read "Vote No" and "Don't Write Discrimination into the Constitution."
"I know the battles Wade Henderson has fought to break down discrimination in America," Sen. Kennedy said, citing the civil rights struggles of the 60's and 70's. "And I welcome this opportunity to join the heroes behind me to continue fighting those battles."
Reverend Nathan Harris of Lincoln Congregational Temple, one of the many religious leaders opposed to the FMA, referenced the Bill of Rights in his argument against the amendment.
"Does 'all persons' really mean 'all persons'?" he asked. "Or is it just straight white men that are guaranteed equal rights and liberties?"
Congressman Lewis said the Constitution protects the dignity of every individual. "Love is the answer," Lewis said. "We are one people, one nation, one family. We must work together to build an all-inclusive society."
