Posted on 03/12/2004 3:46:10 AM PST by Theodore R.
State Senate OKs putting gay marriage ban to a vote
By John Cheves
HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITER
FRANKFORT - As expected, the Senate overwhelmingly voted yesterday to put a state constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages on the Nov. 2 ballot.
Senate Bill 245 goes to the House, where leaders say they are not inclined to send the controversial proposal to the House floor for a vote.
"We already have a law that bans same-sex marriages, and we have recently passed a resolution urging Congress to amend the U.S. Constitution against same-sex marriages. In my opinion, the House has pretty well expressed its view," House Majority Leader Rocky Adkins, D-Sandy Hook, said this week.
Nationally and in Kentucky, Democrats complain that Republicans are using gay-marriage bans as a political "wedge" issue that divides voters and forces Democrats to alienate either supporters or opponents of gay rights.
The Kentucky House's shrinking Democratic majority -- two-thirds of its Democrats face a Republican challenger this year -- fought off a Republican effort last month to call a House version of the gay-marriage amendment for a floor vote. That House bill was withdrawn.
Yesterday, in a Senate floor speech, the sponsor of SB 245 urged his colleagues in the Republican-led chamber to honor "the greater glory of God" and vote for it.
"I'm a firm believer in the Bible," said Sen. Vernie McGaha, R-Russell Springs.
McGaha quoted portions of the Bible defining marriage as between a man and a woman; then he warned about recent court rulings and decisions by local governments in other states to sanction gay and lesbian weddings.
"This institution of marriage is under attack by judges and elected officials who would legislate social policy," McGaha said. "We in the legislature, I think, have no other choice but to protect our communities from the desecration of these traditional values. We must stand strong."
The legislature's only openly gay member, Sen. Ernesto Scorsone, failed to rally much opposition.
Scorsone, D-Lexington, warned the other senators they would come to regret voting for the bill, much as a previous generation of Kentucky legislators later realized they were wrong to oppose equal rights for blacks.
Scorsone drew a parallel between yesterday's vote and a racist, religiously inspired effort in 1912 to amend the U.S. Constitution so that marriages between whites and blacks would not be recognized. In both cases, he said, supporters of the amendments insisted they had to defend the sanctity of marriage.
"At some point in time -- and that time is not that far off -- people will look back and wonder how good public servants could support an amendment such as Senate Bill 245," Scorsone said.
In 1998, the legislature wrote a "one man, one woman" definition of marriage into state law. But state laws can be overturned by a court decision if judges decide they violate the state constitution's guarantees of freedom and civil liberties.
If SB 245 were approved, voters would decide this fall whether to amend the constitution to ban same-sex marriages in Kentucky, putting the issue above the reach of the courts.
The amendment also would prohibit Kentucky from recognizing same-sex marriages or civil unions made legal outside Kentucky.
Congress is considering a similar gay-marriage amendment to the U.S. Constitution, endorsed by President Bush. But that could take years, and in the interim, "a radical Kentucky judge" could strike down Kentucky's law, warned Sen. Gary Tapp, R-Shelbyville.
Thirty-three senators voted for the bill, including Sen. Daniel Mongiardo, D-Hazard, who is running for the Democratic nomination in this year's U.S. Senate race.
Opposing the bill were Scorsone; Sen. Lindy Casebier, R-Louisville; Sen. David Karem, D-Louisville; and Sen. Tim Shaughnessy, D-Louisville. Sen. Gerald Neal, D-Louisville, voted to pass on the bill.
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