Perhaps realizing that writing discrimination into the Constitution–no matter how popular–is not a good election year activity, the U.S. House of Representatives could not garner enough votes to approve the amendment that would bar same-sex marriage.
The vote by the GOP-controlled House was 227 to 186 in favor of writing the same-sex marriage ban into the Constitution, 49 short of the two-thirds majority needed to approve an amendment and send it to the states for ratification.
The Senate, also controlled by Republicans, voted 50 to 48 in July against taking up the amendment. But the House, unlike the Senate, produced a majority in support of the proposal.
… The marriage amendment was the latest in a series of conservative causes to be brought before the House as the elections near. The House voted Wednesday to repeal most of the District of Columbia’s gun laws. Last week, it voted to bar federal courts from considering challenges to the use of the words “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance.
These proposals, along with a flag-protection constitutional amendment already approved by the House, face serious opposition in the Senate, if they are brought up at all before Congress adjourns for the year.
The White House issued a statement from President Bush, saying that “a bipartisan majority of U.S. Representatives voted in favor of a constitutional amendment affirming the sanctity of marriage as a union between a man and a woman” but adding that he is “disappointed that the House failed to achieve the necessary two-thirds vote. Because activist judges and local officials in some parts of the country are seeking to redefine marriage for the rest of the country, we must remain vigilant in defending traditional marriage.”
During the debate on the amendment, House Republicans said traditional marriage is seriously threatened by gay unions.
I swear to God, I’m so sick of hearing that traditional marriage is threatened by gay people getting married. How in the hell does this equation work out? I mean, get real–how does the marriage of the couple next door affect your marriage in any way at all?
