Pro-life Democrat supports Constitutional amendment protecting marriage
A constitutional amendment to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman has attracted bipartisan support from a pro-life Democrat in the House of Representatives.
Congressman Nick Rahall, D-WV, has joined as a co-sponsor of Tim Huelskamp's motion to protect marriage.
Rep. Nick Rahall, D-WV
Rahall, who has a 92 percent lifetime voting record from National Right to Life, is the only Democrat to support the legislation to date.
Brian Brown of the National Organization for Marriage said the West Virginia Congressman is the first “hopefully of many” Democratic representatives to support traditional marriage.
“Rep. Rahall's support proves once again that marriage is an issue that cuts past partisan politics and special interests, speaking universally to our shared common sense principles, such as every child's right to have both a mom and a dad,” Brown said.
Approximately one-third of Democrats do not believe in same-sex “marriage,” according to a recent Gallup poll. Nearly one-in-four believe redefining marriage would cause society to “change for the worse.”
That little impressed members of the homosexual lobby, who are a key constituency of the Democratic Party. “He apparently has a fondness for being on the wrong side of history,” a Human Rights Campaign spokesman said of Rahall.
The National Organization for Marriage is asking citizens to e-mail Congressman Rahall with messages of support – and to encourage their own representatives to sign on to the measure.
The “Marriage Protection Amendment” (H. J. Res. 51) now 49 co-sponsors. As yet, no co-sponsors are from Rep. Huelskamp's Kansas.
Among its co-sponsors are such pro-life stalwarts as Trent Franks, R-AZ; Louie Gohmert, R-TX; Duncan Hunter, R-CA; Steve Stockman, R-TX; and Tim Walberg, R-MI.
Congressman Tom Latham, R-IA, withdrew as a co-sponsor one day after signing on, with spokesman Chris Deaton attributing his temporary sponsorship of the bill as “a staff member's mistake.”
A similar amendment came up for a House vote in July 2006, when it failed 236-187. Some 34 Democrats, including Rahall, voted for the measure. Latham voted for the 2006 amendment.
To pass, a constitutional amendment must receive two-thirds support from both chambers of Congress and then has to be ratified by 38 states.
Currently, 37 states ban same-sex “marriage,” while 13 states have redefined marriage – four of them (Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, and California) by judicial decree. Only three states – Washington, Maine, and Maryland – enacted the redefinition of marriage by voter referendum.
