Romney To Testify On Gay Marriage In D.C.
Senate To Take Up Debate Next Month
TheBostonChannel.com from the Web, June 22, 2004
BOSTON -- Gov. Mitt Romney will take the state's gay marriage fight to Washington Tuesday, testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee in a hearing on homosexual unions.
NewsCenter 5's Jim Morelli reported that Romney is scheduled to testify before a congressional hearing entitled "Preserving Traditional Marriage: A View from the States."
Romney is one of the few U.S. governor's who has firsthand experience with the issue and he's expected to tell senators that gay marriage has caused legal confusion in the commonwealth, arguing that federal lawmakers should pass an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would ban gay marriage across the nation.
The governor's critics say his appearance before the Senate committee amounts to political grandstanding.
They say if Republicans can force a vote on banning gay marriage, it would put Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, the likely Democratic candidate for president, in the position of having to take a stand on a federal amendment before this year's presidential election.
President George Bush supports a ban. Kerry voted against the "Defense of Marriage Act" signed by President Bill Clinton in 1996.
Sen. Bill Frist, the Senate majority leader and Republican from Tennessee, said the issue has become a priority now because activist judges in Massachusetts and elsewhere are redefining marriage on a case-by-case basis.
A debate on a national gay marriage ban is scheduled for July 12, a week before the Democratic National Convention.
"In response to the activist judges there, and these marriages that are occurring around the country, it is incumbent for the people to speak," through their senators, Frist said.
He said the purpose of the proposed amendment, which he endorsed a year ago, "is to protect marriage for what it's been in this country for hundreds of years."
The amendment proposed by Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., says "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."
Frist said the American people deserve a "spirited national debate," on the issue.
Amendments to the Constitution require approval by two-thirds majorities in the House and Senate and ratification by three-fourths of state legislatures.
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