Mayors Set Aside Opposing Gay - Marriage Ban
By AP from the NYTimes on the Web, June 28, 2004
BOSTON -- A deeply divided gathering of the nation's mayors could not reach consensus Monday on a proposed resolution opposing a federal constitutional ban on gay marriage.
The U.S. Conference of Mayors voted 46-44 to table the resolution, and an attempt to revive it was also defeated, 47-45.
Stamford Mayor Dannel Malloy, a Democrat running for governor in Connecticut and an opponent of a constitutional amendment, said he believed the mayors wanted to avoid the issue in a year many of them are seeking re-election.
The close votes, Malloy said, also indicate that "there is no broad-based support in the nation to amend the Constitution of the United States to discriminate."
Ed Henderson, mayor of Napa, Calif., called the mayors' non-decision "a wimpy thing to do." Henderson, a Republican, supports gay marriage.
The resolution was co-sponsored by three Democratic mayors -- Thomas Menino of Boston, Richard Daley of Chicago and Gavin Newsom of San Francisco.
The gay marriage dispute gained national attention in February when Newsom permitted San Francisco to issue same-sex marriage licenses.
More than 4,000 were handed out before the California Supreme Court ordered a halt.
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