Issue Alert: Assault on Marriage

The institution of marriage is under assault in legislatures and courtrooms across the country.  Efforts to redefine marriage to include same-sex couples have dominated the legal landscape since 1998 when the Hawaii Supreme Court sought to impose same-sex marriage by judicial fiat.  Since that time, the people of Hawaii, and concerned citizens from just about every other state, have responded overwhelmingly to counter these efforts by passing laws seeking to protect the traditional definition of marriage as the relationship between one man and one woman.

In fact, currently four states, including Hawaii, have passed constitutional amendments declaring just that.  Most recently the state of Missouri on August 3, 2004 took this issue to the voters.  With similar results to the votes taken in Hawaii (69.2% to 28.6%), Alaska (68.11% to 31.89%), Nebraska (70.1% to 29.9%) and Nevada (67.1% to 32.7%), the citizens of Missouri overwhelmingly voted to support traditional marriage by a margin of 70.7% to 29.3%!

In addition to these five states with constitutional amendments, thirty-nine states have passed state Defense of Marriage Acts (DOMAs) patterned after the federal DOMA law passed in 1996, which clarifies that marriage is defined by the state, not the federal government.  Four other states (Maryland, New Hampshire, Wisconsin and Wyoming) have laws or court rulings prohibiting same-sex marriage that predate the federal DOMA.

Twelve more states will seek to follow Missouri this fall hoping that voters will approve a state constitutional amendment protecting marriage.  Louisiana will vote on September 18th with the remaining states all having ballot initiatives on November 2nd, the date of the general election – those state are as follows: Georgia, Arkansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Utah.

Currently only one state has legalized same-sex marriage: Massachusetts.  Citing the Full Faith and Credit Clause of Article IV of the Constitution, which declares that states must accept the public acts of every other state, a homosexual couple legally married in Massachusetts could seek to have that marriage recognized in another state.  Even with the protection of state law and a state constitutional amendment explicitly prohibiting same-sex marriage, a federal judge could strike down those state laws and impose same-sex marriage on that state by judicial fiat 

Congress is seeking the ultimate remedy – an amendment to the U.S. Constitution defining marriage.  The Federal Marriage Amendment (FMA) has already failed to reach the floor of the Senate for a vote on the merits, but sponsors and supporters agree that the FMA is the only measure that will counter the federal judiciary from rewriting our Constitution.  Be alert that the FMA may come up for a vote in the House and, quite possibly, again in the Senate in September.  If you would like to express your opinions, you can find the name of your elected officials and their contact information by visiting www.house.gov or www.senate.gov.

Now that you understand the issue – take action and make a difference!