ACLU Calls Revised Marriage Amendment 'Desperate Political Move'
By: Richard Stewart | Source: CNSNews.com
March 22, 2004 10:12PM EST

By Melanie Hunter
CNSNews.com Deputy Managing Editor
March 22, 2004

(CNSNews.com) - The American Civil Liberties Union is calling a new proposed constitutional marriage amendment "a desperate political move" that does not address the underlying concerns about the measure.

Sen. Wayne Allard (R-Colo.) and Rep. Marilyn Musgrave (R-Colo.), proposed the new language Monday. The draft amendment now reads: ''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.''

"The latest proposal to amend the U.S. Constitution to discriminate against gay and lesbian families is a desperate political move," said Christopher E. Anders, an ACLU legislative counsel. "The sponsors of the amendment realized that they did not even have a simple fifty-percent majority, much less a two-thirds majority in either house of Congress.

"The latest draft won't change a single vote in Congress," Anders added. "The two principal reasons that opponents of the constitutional amendment have for opposing it are that the country should not write discrimination into the Constitution, and that there is no reason to amend the Constitution when the federal statute on marriage has never been invalidated by any court.

The only significant difference between the two versions of the amendment is that the new proposal prohibits the U.S. Constitution and state constitutions from being used to provide "legal incidents" of marriage to same-sex couples, but does not prohibit state or federal statutes or executive actions from providing those benefits.

"There is not much difference between the two versions of the amendment," Anders said.

"The new proposal would still write discrimination into the Constitution, deny all states the right to decide who can get married in their states, preempt the state constitutions of the fifty states, prohibit such important court decisions as the Vermont civil union decision and the Oregon domestic partnership decision, and potentially jeopardize a wide
array of other rights provided to gay and lesbian couples and their children," he concluded.

"The changes to this amendment are technical clarifications that are important to help move it forward, but are legally and technically minor," said Sen. John Cornyn, chairman of the Constitution subcommittee.

"The sponsors of this amendment have said clearly that they want to protect marriage between a man and a woman, but leave other arrangements to the state legislatures. These changes make that clear and specifically address concerns that some Democrats in Congress have raised. This amendment will be examined in the hearing I will chair on Tuesday.

Cornyn will chair a hearing on Tuesday by the Senate Judiciary Committee on a federal marriage amendment titled "A Proposed Constitutional Amendment to Preserve Traditional Marriage."

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