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| Republican Senators John Cornyn of Texas (left); Wayne
Allard of Colorado (center)
and Sam Brownback of Kansas were among the most vocal supporters of the Federal
Marriage Amendment. Allard introduced the measure in the Senate. (Photo by Leigh
H. Mosley)
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“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 a union of a man and a woman.”
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HOME > NEWS > NATIONAL NEWS
By: LOU CHIBBARO JR. COMMENTS
 
continued...
modify or reject the current meaning
of the “full faith and credit” provision.
Sen. trong>Wayne Allard (R-Colo.) called
Wednesday’s vote not to move forward on the Federal Marriage Amendment ‘a
good beginning.’ He, and others, have promised to keep pushing the measure.
(Photo by Leigh H. Mosley) |
Several senators, including Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.), said legal recognition
of same-sex marriage, once mandated by “runaway” courts, would destroy the
institution of marriage and bring about the destruction of the American family.
Santorum criticized what he called an alliance of gay groups and their supporters
for accusing backers of the FMA of being intolerant and bigoted.
“If you support a mother and a father for every child, you are a hater,” Santorum
said. “If you believe men and women for 5,000 years have bonded together in
marriage, you are a gay-basher,” he said.
“Marriage is hate. Marriage is a stain. Marriage is an evil thing. That is
what we hear.”
Santorum, who was among the most impassioned of the Republican backers of the
FMA, said studies show that legal recognition of same-sex relationships in
the Netherlands and Scandinavian countries has led to a sharp decline in the
number of people who marry there.
According to Santorum and Allard, the studies also show that the number of
children born to unmarried parents also rose sharply in the Netherlands and
Scandinavian nations following legal recognition of same-sex marriage or same-sex
unions.
“Is this what is best for children?” he said. “Is this an argument of a hater?”
Although no senator sought to challenge the studies Santorum cited during
the Senate debate, University of Massachusetts economics professor Lee Badgett
pointed to a paper she prepared for the Council on Contemporary Families and
the Institute for Gay & Lesbian Strategic Studies, which contradicts Santorum’s
assertions.
“Heterosexual marriage rates in Denmark actually increased after adoption
of same-sex marriage,” Badgett said in a July 14 statement. “They are now the
highest they have been since the early 1970s,” she said. “In other countries
that have adopted same-sex partnerships, marriage rates remained the same or
increased slightly.”
Most of the Democratic senators who opposed the FMA during the Senate debate
this week argued that the amendment was un
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