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By: JOE CREA
COMMENTS
 
With a vote on the Federal Marriage Amendment just days away, supporters and
opponents of the gay marriage ban are embarking on last ditch lobbying efforts
in an attempt to sway undecided senators to their side.
Some senators, locked in close re-election bids have said opponents of same-sex
marriage have flooded their offices with calls, urging them to vote “yes” on
the amendment that the Senate is scheduled to take up next week.
Social conservatives have targeted Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), who is
heading into a close primary contest on Aug. 24 with a more conservative opponent,
state Sen. Mike Miller. An ad campaign sponsored by Focus on the Family has
appeared in several Alaskan newspapers showing a sad boy with the headline, “Why
Doesn’t Senator Murkowski Believe Every Child Needs a Mother and a Father?”
Charles Kleeschulte, Murkowski’s communications director, said his boss
supports an amendment that would ban gay marriage so long as it allows the
state to determine who can receive marital benefits. Kleeschulte said Murkowski
is waiting to see the final resolution before she casts her vote.
Using a similar ad, Focus on the Family has also targeted Ohio Sens. George
Voinovich (R) and Mike DeWine (R) for failing to support the FMA.
Marcie Ridgway, press secretary for Voinovich said her office receives hundreds
of phone calls a day, mostly from individuals opposing gay marriage. Voinovich
has said that the traditional institution of marriage must be protected but
that the FMA is not necessary now.
“Right now the best strategy is to work hard to see that the federal
Defense of Marriage Act is upheld and that more states follow Ohio’s
lead and pass defense of marriage laws and enforce them,” Voinovich said
in a statement.
“I support debating an amendment in the Senate, but I’m concerned
that a premature vote on passing it — before any court has ruled on the
constitutionality of the federal Defense of Marriage Act or state actions — would
likely fail in the Senate and would make it harder to pass an amendment if
one were eventually needed,” Voinovich said. “If federal and state
laws are overruled by the courts we must then seek passage of a constitutional
amendment to preserve marriage as a union between a man and a woman, and I
would fight hard to win its passage.”
Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.) remains undecided about the marriage amendment.
According to a spokesperson in Byrd’s office who asked not to be identified,
the office has received a large volume of mail on the subject but the official
declined to say what percentage of writers supported or opposed the amendment.
In a related development this week, gay rights activists learned that the latest
version of the FMA in the Senate omits the customary “drop dead” provision
that stipulates that ratification of the measure by the states must occur within
seven years of the date Congress passes it.
The deletion of the sunset provision from the re-submitted March 22 Senate
amendment was not officially announced.
The last amendment to pass Congress without such a provision was the 27th
Amendment in 1789. It was finally ratified, 203 years later, in 1992.
University of Minnesota law professor Dale Carpenter said there is no textual
requirement in the Constitution that the seven-year sunset provision must be
placed on the ratification of a constitutional amendment. He added that there
is no Supreme Court precedent addressing the issue.
“It seems the sponsors of the amendment think they have a long slog
ahead in the states, that they are unlikely to get ratification in seven years,” Carpenter
said. “But I don’t think seven years is on their side.”
Even with such a sunset provision, Congress could still extend the ratification
period, Carpenter said.
Carpenter added that since a sunset provision is customary, but not required,
gay rights advocates could argue that “this approach represents yet another
way in which the FMA is a break from the nation’s traditions.”
The FMA, according to Carpenter is not only a major departure in terms of
substance, but now a break in traditional procedure.
The Human Rights Campaign and the Log Cabin Republicans unveiled two advertising
campaigns this week in an effort to generate more opposition to the FMA.
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Alaska
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R)
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