Fri. September 5, 2003
Washington, D.C. -
A Senate subcommittee this afternoon was told that the only way to prevent gay and lesbian couples from marrying is to amend the Constitution.
The subcommittee on the Constitution, civil rights and property rights, held a public hearing on the need for a constitutional amendment in light of the recent Supreme Court decision striking down the Texas sodomy law.
Sen. John Cornyn, the Texas Republican who scheduled the hearing brought in four witnesses all with a long history of opposing gay rights in general and same-se marriage in particular.
Legislation to amend the Constitution is already in the House. Although no legislation has been introduced in the Senate, majority leader Bill Frist has said he would be supportive. For a bill to get to the Senate floor it first would need approval of Cornyn's subcommittee.
Before the hearing began Human Rights Watch released a document calling on the US and other countries to abandon opposition to gay marriage and instead embrace it.
The international human rights group called on governments, including the United States, to follow a growing international trend of giving legal recognition to gay and lesbian relationships.
The Netherlands and Belgium give gay and lesbian couples the right to full civil marriage. Two Canadian provinces have already legalized gay marriage and the rest of that country is in the process of following suit.
Numerous other counties recognize same-sex partnerships in law, including Croatia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Norway, Portugal, and Sweden. Countries that extend some benefits to same-sex partners, or contain jurisdictions that do so, include: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Israel, Italy, New Zealand, South Africa, and Spain.
“On almost every continent, governments are moving to stop discrimination against same-sex relationships,” said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch. “Yet in the United States, some legislators are trying to etch this prejudice in stone.”
Lack of access to marriage rights imposes discriminatory, and often damaging, burdens on same-sex partners, the Human Rights Watch briefing paper said. They may be denied shared health or employment benefits; protections against domestic violence; inheritance rights; the right to raise a child together; the right to make medical decisions for a sick partner or a partner’s child; and rights to equal tax benefits and joint insurance policies.
Going into today's subcommittee hearing on Capitol Hill, Cornyn refused to comment on the HRW report until he had read it.
At the beginning of the session Cornyn specifically stated that the purpose of the hearing was to determine how best to prevent same-sex marriage - whether through a constitutional amendment, or through existing federal law.
Democratic Senators Russ Feingold (D-WI) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT) both pointed out numerous gay couples in the audience, and were joined by Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA) in stating that the U.S. Senate had more pressing matters to attend to than discussing how to further discriminate against these couples.
Among those testifying for an Amendment was former Texas Solicitor General Greg Coleman. Coleman testified that the only recourse to stop same-sex marriage was through a constitutional amendment. Coleman said that the Supreme Court's sodomy decision opened the "floodgates" to gay marriage.
Conservative Republican Michael Farris also told the committee that an Amendment was needed.
"Anyone who believes that DOMA will be held constitutional [if challenged in federal courts] has a very stiff job ahead of them defending that position,"Farris testified.
Farris is president of Patrick Henry College in Virginia and chairman of the Home School Legal Defense Association.
In May he was one of 11 conservative leaders who met with then RNC Chairman Marc Racicot to urge the Republican National Committee to publicly oppose gay issues. During the 2000 election, Farris lobbied George W. Bush to state that he would not appoint homosexuals to his administration if elected.
"The courts are robbing the American people of their fundamental rights of self-government," Farris told the committee.
Boston minister Ray Hammond was also invited to testify. Hammond serves on the Board of Advisors for the anti-gay group, the Alliance for Marriage. This is the organization that wrote, and first proposed, the anti-marriage amendment to Congress. In 1999, Hammond lobbied that Massachusetts pass legislation denying civil recognition to same-sex couples. Hammond told the committee that same-sex marriage "dehumanizes the family."
Also testifying was Maggie Gallagher, a well known activist opposed to civil recognition of same-sex marriages. In July, she wrote in the National Review that "Polygamy is not worse than gay marriage, it is better."
Republicans were allowed to call four witnesses, while Democrats on the subcommittee were allowed only two.
Testifying against the amendment was Keith Bradkowski, whose partner was killed in the September 11th terrorist attacks.
Bradkowski fighting back tears, described the difficulties that surviving partners in same-sex relationships face when their relationships have no state recognition.
"After his death, I was faced not only with my grief over losing Jeff … but with the painful task of proving the authenticity of our relationship over and over again," he said.
"During the years we were together, Jeff paid taxes and had social security deducted from his paycheck as any other American. But without a civil marriage license, I am denied benefits that married couples and their families receive as a matter of routine."
"The terrorists who attacked this country killed people not because they were gay or straight - but because they were Americans. It is heart wrenching that our own government does not protect its citizens equally, gay and straight, simply because they are Americans."
Cornyn said that, though he sympathized with Bradkowski's plight, the institution of marriage was so fundamental to society that it needed protection.
"I believe that the Senate has a duty to ensure that, on an issue as fundamental as marriage, the American people, through their elected representatives, decide the issue," he said
"This hearing is simply a Republican circus that amounts to little more than a taxpayer-funded attack on gay families," said Dave Noble, National Stonewall Democrats Executive Director. "The fact that Republicans only invited anti-gay activists to testify speaks volumes about where they stand."
The Human Rights Campaign submitted a written brief to the committee.
"Gay Americans are whole and complete human beings that serve in Congress, risk their lives by defending the country in the armed forces, and make valuable contributions across every spectrum of the society" said Birch in her written testimony. "We are patriotic citizens who are proud of our country, even as some in our nation are not proud of us. Gay Americans are tax payers who have paid and paid for decades for an American infrastructure that does not serve and protect us."
National Stonewall Democrats recently announced that it will withhold endorsements and support from any Democrat who co-sponsors such a resolution. While a resolution has not been yet introduced in the U.S. Senate, Senate Republican Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) recently endorsed the idea.
Earlier this week Log Cabin Republicans announced they would actively work to see legislation supporting a constitutional amendment is defeated.
To amend the Constitution, the proposal must be approved by two-thirds of the House and the Senate and ratified by three-fourths of the states.
by Paul Johnson
365Gay.com Newscenter
Washington Bureau Chief
©365Gay.com® 2003
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