Religious Leaders Oppose Constitutional Amendment to Ban Same-Sex Marriage
Feature Story by civilrights.org staff - 6/21/2004
A coalition of religious leaders came together in June to urge Congress to oppose a constitutional amendment to ban marriage for same-sex couples. Twenty-six major national religious organizations released a joint letter stating that the proposed Federal Marriage Amendment (FMA) should be rejected."Although we have differing opinions on rights for same-sex couples, we believe the Federal Marriage Amendment reflects a fundamental disregard for individual civil rights and ignores differences among our nation's many religious traditions," the letter stated.
In a briefing held on Capitol Hill on the same day as the letter was sent, representatives from the Alliance of Baptists, Disciples of Christ, Episcopal Church USA, Union for Reform Judaism, Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations, and United Church of Christ spoke out on the dangerous consequences of FMA.
The panel convened sought to counter support by other religious groups and leaders for the FMA, demonstrating that the religious community is deeply divided on the wisdom of the proposal.
H J Res 56, which would amend the Constitution to define marriage as between a man and a woman, was introduced in May 2003, followed by a companion bill, S J Res 26, which was introduced in November 2003.
A similar measure, S J Res 30, was introduced with slightly altered language in March 2004. The Human Rights Campaign reports that despite the sponsors' arguments that the new language will not invalidate state-level civil unions or domestic partnerships, many constitutional scholars believe otherwise.
Senate leaders recently announced that the amendment would likely be brought up for a vote in mid-July. Many opponents believe the amendment has little to no chance of passing, but is simply being used as an issue to stir up conservative voters prior to the November 2004 election.
The Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR), a coalition of more than 180 social justice organizations, including religious groups, strongly opposes the FMA.
"This amendment would turn 225 years of Constitutional history on its head by discriminatorily intruding into the traditional authority of states in matters of family law," said Nancy Zirkin, deputy director of LCCR. "The whole idea of America is to provide each citizen with inalienable rights. All of a sudden the Constitution will be used to take rights away."
