OPPOSE  The "Marriage

Protection Act"

Introduction

Advocacy Initiatives

-Contact the Governor

-Oppose the "Marriage Protection Act"

News and Announcement Details

Calendar of Events Details

Committee Documents

Links

Contact Us

On January 25, 2005 Senator Wayne Allard (R-CO) has introduced on the floor of the Senate, S. J. Res. 1, the so-called "Marriage Protection Act" which seek to enshrine discrimination into our U.S. Constitution.  It seeks to define marriage as only between one man and one woman, forever denying lesbians and gays the right to a civil marriage.

PLEASE write AND call your senators today!

Here is the text of S.J. Res. 1:

    "Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled (two-thirds of each House concurring therein), That the following article is proposed as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which shall be valid to all intents and purposes as part of the Constitution when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States:

   ``Article --

    ``SECTION 1. This article may be cited as the `Marriage Protection
Amendment'.

    ``SECTION 2. Marriage in the United States shall consist only of the
union of a man and a woman. Neither this Constitution, nor the constitution
of any State, shall be construed to require that marriage or the legal
incidents thereof be conferred upon any union other than the union of a man
and a woman.''.
 

Contact Information:

U. S. Senate (Maryland):

Senator Barbara Mikulski

• 709 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington  D.C. 20510
• Phone: 202-224-4654
• E-Mail Form

Senator Paul Sarbanes

• 309 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington D.C. 20510
• Phone: 202-224-4524
• E-Mail Form

Talking Points (from the HRC website):

• Amending the Constitution to “define marriage as the union of a man and a woman” would actually deny more than 1,100 rights, protections and benefits to millions of devoted couples and their children. 
• Amending the Constitution is very rare and is only done to address great public policy needs. In our Constitution's 214-year history, it was first amended to include the Bill of Rights in 1791. Since then, it has only been amended 17 times.
• Throughout American history, the Constitution has been amended to protect the rights and liberties of the American people. It has been amended to abolish slavery, to keep the government out of people's lives, and to give women and young people the right to vote. It should not be used to single out some Americans for discrimination.
• Many of the major civil rights advances of the last century have resulted from the judicial branch stepping in to ensure that all Americans are provided equal protection under the law. From Brown v. Board of Education in 1954 to Loving v. Virginia in 1967, the courts have provided a necessary and constitutional check on governmental abuses of power and violations of individual rights. Adopting this amendment would take away the constitutional power of the courts to protect individual rights.
• Such a cynical amendment illustrates a cruel irony about groups that call themselves "pro-family." The amendment proposed in the 108th Congress goes beyond defining marriage and seeks to deny gay families fundamental protections such as hospital visitation rights, inheritance rights and health care benefits. There is nothing pro-family about that.
• This amendment not only attempts to deny equal rights to gays and lesbians, but it also attempts to undermine legislative and legal efforts to protect American families who are gay and lesbian couples and their children.
• Several leading Republicans and conservatives, such as George Will and Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., oppose the amendment, seeing it as a clear violation of federalist principles.
• Leading legal scholars agree that the amendment could forever invalidate civil unions or other legal protections for same-sex couples, like the right to partner health benefits or fair taxation upon the death of a partner – even if state legislatures passed them and voters approved them.
• In a post-Sept. 11 world, it is very telling and shameful that the far right has nothing better to focus its energies on than introducing a gratuitous anti-gay constitutional amendment.
• A majority of Hispanics in the United States oppose amending the U.S. Constitution to ban same-sex marriages, according to an NBC News-Wall Street Journal poll. Fifty-three percent of Hispanics surveyed said they are against such a move, the March 6-8, 2004, survey found. In addition, Catholics are evenly split, on the amendment, with 48 percent opposed and 48 percent supportive of the amendment.
• Past polling has shown that 90 percent of voters support hospital visitation for same-sex partners; and 66 percent support inheritance rights for same-sex couples.
   

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PFLAG Columbia Howard County  

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Your Local Support, Education and Advocacy Organization

LGBT Political Investment Caucus

(click above text to link)

Equality Maryland

 (click above text to link) Maryland's GLBT Civil Rights Organization

Human Rights Campaign

(click above text to link)   Nation's Premiere GLBT Civil Rights Organization