Senate Panel Approves Federal Marriage Amendment

Are the Republicans finally waking up to the fact that they are the majority?

(CNSNews.com) - The Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday approved a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. The 10-8 vote, along party lines, followed a showdown between committee Chairman Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) and Sen. Russell Feingold (D-Wis.).
Feingold refused to take part in the session and even walked out after complaining that the public did not have enough access. "If you want to leave, good riddance," Specter told Feingold. "I've enjoyed your lecture too. See you later, Mr. Chairman," Feingold replied before leaving, according to Reuters.
The amendment now goes to the full Senate, where a vote is expected June 5, to the delight of conservatives, who have been pushing for a traditional definition of marriage - one man and one woman - to be constitutionally mandated.
"This Amendment will permit the American people an opportunity to rein in activist judges who have stripped the right of voters to protect marriage," said Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, in a statement. He thanked Specter for scheduling a vote on the amendment.
"The threat to traditional marriage is alive and well. Just this week, a Georgia state court declared void the voice of Georgia voters. Let us also remember the decision by a federal judge declaring unconstitutional Nebraska's popularly supported state amendment preserving marriage as being between one man and one woman," Perkins said.
The fact that the amendment was passed by a party line vote "illustrates a stark contrast between those who would allow an activist judiciary to redefine the institution of marriage and those committed to a representative form of government that relies upon the people to determine the great social questions of our day," he said.
"I call upon the U.S. Senate to approve the Marriage Protection Amendment. As the states move to ratify the marriage amendment, only then will the voice of the American public be heard and preserved," Perkins concluded. Constitutional amendments require a two-thirds approval in the U.S. House and Senate, plus ratification by three quarters of the nation's state legislatures.

Opponents of the marriage amendment view it as discrimination.
As Cybercast News Service previously reported, the group Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) has launched a postcard campaign urging senators to vote no on the Federal Marriage Amendment. PFLAG characterizes it as "the first step in writing discrimination" into the U.S. Constitution "by denying marriage equality to same-sex individuals."
Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), the Judiciary Committee's top Democrat, said the amendment is a waste of time for the committee, which he said should be focused on more urgent matters. He mentioned the president's judicial nominations or the National Security Agency's wiretapping program as examples, Reuters reported.
"I didn't realize marriages were so threatened. Nor did my wife of 44 years," Reuters quoted Leahy as saying.