More States Work to Pass Marriage Amendments
Emboldened by the Election Day results, in which 11 states approved constitutional marriage amendments, lawmakers and conservatives in other states are working toward passing amendments of their own.
By the next election cycle, around half the nation’s state could have constitutional amendments defining marriage.
Several more states are following the lead of the 11-state-sweep on marriage amendments during the Nov. 2 elections when voters in 11 states confirmed marriage as a union between a man and a woman.
On Monday, the first day of to file bills for the next legislative term, Rep. Warren Chisum filed a proposed constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex marriage in Texas. Lawmakers in Virginia also did an early filing of a similar amendment.
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Marriage amendments in three states, Massachusetts, Tennessee and Wisconsin, passed amendments in the last legislative session will appear before voters in the 2006 election if they pass the next legislative session.
Massachusetts is the only state in the nation to allow gay marriages and is credited by conservatives for starting the same-sex marriage push as well as backlash.
Meanwhile, pro-family groups and conservative legislators in several other states said they are working to introduce and pass the constitutional amendments defining marriage next year. The states in this process include Alabama, Arizona, Idaho, Kansas, South Carolina, and Washington.
A total of 17 states have already approved marriage amendments.
Homosexual activists in Oklahoma were the first to file a challenge to the marriage amendment after the election. More are working to overturn the amendments in other states but are proceeding with caution. They say they fear winning their cause too soon and too fast in the courts could lost them public opinion and add fuel to the President’s efforts to pass a federal ban on same-sex marriages, according to a New York Times article.
White House Political Strategist Karl Rove reaffirmed this week that President Bush will “absolutely” continue his push for a federal constitutional amendment defining marriage. Efforts to pass the Federal Marriage Amendment were blocked in the Senate earlier this year.
Matthew D. Staver, president and general counsel of Liberty Counsel, a national public interest law firm, predicted “as many as 20 more state constitutional amendments in the next two years," reported the New York Times.
"And you'll see an accelerated effort to move forward with a federal constitutional amendment because of the marriage and morality mandate the president received in the election,” he added.
Also, in the article, Staver didn’t appeared to be too worried over the possibility of legal challenges to the state marriage amendments and even suggested that it is a win-win situation for traditional marriage supporters.
"If the same-sex marriage advocates win," Staver said, "that will be like pouring gasoline onto the fire for purposes of the federal marriage amendment."
