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Gay Marriage Amendment Dies in Senate (Again)

By TChris, Section Civil Liberties
Posted on Wed Jun 07, 2006 at 09:24:39 AM EST
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by TChris

The first hot button right wing issue of the political summer -- the proposed amendment to "protect marriage" by prohibiting states from allowing gays to marry -- failed to advance today on a Senate vote of 49-48. Pro-amendment senators who championed the doomed amendment claimed that the issue was worth debating to show "progress" toward its eventual passage. The 2004 vote was 50-48. Not much progress toward bigotry this year.

The Republican Senate is now free to move on to other hot button social issues in its valiant attempt to avoid talking about rising deficits, global warming, chaos in Iraq, inadequate cargo inspection, and the other burning issues of the day that Republicans are incapable of confronting. Speaking of burning, the next non-issue Republicans will raise to distract voters is likely to be a recycled attempt to amend the Constitution to prohibit flag burning. Have you seen much flag burning in the U.S. lately?

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    Gay Marriage Amendment Dies in Senate (Again) | 33 comments (33 topical)
    Re: Gay Marriage Amendment Dies in Senate (Again) (none / 0) (#1)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Jun 07, 2006 at 09:34:09 AM EST
    Thank goodness. Most relatively sane conservatives I know think the gay marriage amendment is a significant abuse of the constitution, especially following the Defense of Marriage Act, which further solidified the federalist perspective with respect to marriage.

    Re: Gay Marriage Amendment Dies in Senate (Again) (none / 0) (#2)
    by Punchy on Wed Jun 07, 2006 at 09:57:04 AM EST
    Speaking of burning, the next non-issue Republicans will raise to distract voters is likely to be a recycled attempt to amend the Constitution to prohibit flag burning. Are you kidding me? THIS is what passes as important?

    Re: Gay Marriage Amendment Dies in Senate (Again) (none / 0) (#3)
    by desertswine on Wed Jun 07, 2006 at 10:00:41 AM EST
    "The state can do what they want to do. Don't try to trap me in this state's issue like you're trying to get me into." [Gov. George W. Bush on Gay Marriage, Presidential Primary Debate, 2/15/00]
    flip - FLOP

    Re: Gay Marriage Amendment Dies in Senate (Again) (none / 0) (#4)
    by Bill Arnett on Wed Jun 07, 2006 at 10:20:44 AM EST
    I have always considered one of the most insipid GOP priorities. Geez, if it upsets you, enact a law prohibiting intended fires in public areas and then just have a cop ask them, "Pardon me, do you have a permit for that fire?", and if not, assess the agreed upon penalties of the law. (I would bet a good number of cities already have such laws against deliberately set fires in public on the books.) Banning free speech, no matter how repugnant, is just not what a democracy does.

    Re: Gay Marriage Amendment Dies in Senate (Again) (none / 0) (#5)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Jun 07, 2006 at 10:36:38 AM EST
    I've done a detailed analysis of the differences between the 2004 vote and today's vote on this amendment.

    Re: Gay Marriage Amendment Dies in Senate (Again) (none / 0) (#6)
    by Slado on Wed Jun 07, 2006 at 11:14:46 AM EST
    Solid analysis KC. Real conservatives (the base) wanted this issue. Just like real liberals (the base) wanted Fiengold to push back against NSA etc... even though it didn't go anywhere. Whats the difference? 2nd the inciting incident for all this will be if someone challenges the protection of marriage act passed by congress by claiming their particular rights in say Mass. should be recognized in another state. Until then this is all posturing but if it gets republicans to the polls I'm for it. Its politics guys and gals. Lets not pretend that only one side plays these games.

    Re: Gay Marriage Amendment Dies in Senate (Again) (none / 0) (#7)
    by glanton on Wed Jun 07, 2006 at 11:17:22 AM EST
    Not much progress toward bigotry this year.
    TChris, a fiery and well-written post as usual. But I have to disagree with you on the above quote. If the only goal was to get the Amendment, then you would be right on the mark. But as 'tis, what we have is a public relations move. Get middle Uhmerrikah all flamed up about the "threat" of boys kissing. Associate, identify the Republican Party with that outraged feeling. Bigotry has indeed made bigger "official" advances in Uhmerrikah over the last six years than at any other point in the last three and a half decades.

    Re: Gay Marriage Amendment Dies in Senate (Again) (none / 0) (#8)
    by Che's Lounge on Wed Jun 07, 2006 at 12:25:19 PM EST
    How many of the 49 that voted to SAVE marriage are divorced?

    Re: Gay Marriage Amendment Dies in Senate (Again) (none / 0) (#9)
    by squeaky on Wed Jun 07, 2006 at 12:38:02 PM EST
    Che's Lounge-
    How many of the 49 that voted to SAVE marriage are divorced?
    Not sure of the answer to that question but here is a compilation that illuminates the disparity between the rhetoric of the Family Values Party and how they live their own life. T.Rex

    Re: Gay Marriage Amendment Dies in Senate (Again) (none / 0) (#10)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Jun 07, 2006 at 12:40:20 PM EST
    This was meant to fail in the Senate, so it would go to the states. It's the REICHwing's 2006 voting cycle GOTV initiative.

    Re: Gay Marriage Amendment Dies in Senate (Again) (none / 0) (#11)
    by Jlvngstn on Wed Jun 07, 2006 at 12:46:22 PM EST
    If a gay couple burns a flag as part of their ceremony, is it considered an act of treason or a simple felony? What if the gay couple is Barney Frank and Cheneys daughter? Oh wait, that is not a gay couple.

    Re: Gay Marriage Amendment Dies in Senate (Again) (none / 0) (#13)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Jun 07, 2006 at 01:27:38 PM EST
    I'm engaged to be married. There are these two gay guys in Massachusetts that got married. Gay marriage is such a peril my fiance' and I have discussed calling off our nuptials. How would our marriage survive? Could it withstand the homo onslaught certain to be waged against us? We're not at all confident we have the resources, the wisdom and the courage to persevere in a state of heterosexual matrimony with those two gay guys out to get us. Can anyone help us? Even now I feel that hot homo breath on my neck, waiting to tear our pending union asunder.

    Re: Gay Marriage Amendment Dies in Senate (Again) (none / 0) (#15)
    by Sailor on Wed Jun 07, 2006 at 02:51:17 PM EST
    we've been beating off the gays and lesbos [...] for years now
    No wonder they keep hanging around;-)

    Re: Gay Marriage Amendment Dies in Senate (Again) (none / 0) (#16)
    by Che's Lounge on Wed Jun 07, 2006 at 02:53:20 PM EST
    Steve, Are you AND your fiance white? If so, then by all means do it. And have babies. Lots of white babies. John Gibson

    Re: Gay Marriage Amendment Dies in Senate (Again) (none / 0) (#17)
    by Patrick on Wed Jun 07, 2006 at 02:59:18 PM EST
    Sailor, Dang, you beat me to it. Personally, I guess I don't really care who gets married, however, I do wonder where then do we draw the line? At monogamous relations or then should we allow polygamus ones as well?

    Re: Gay Marriage Amendment Dies in Senate (Again) (none / 0) (#18)
    by Patrick on Wed Jun 07, 2006 at 03:01:14 PM EST
    I then have to add, who in their right mind would want more than one wife ;-), but as they say, and keeping with the meme, different strokes for different folks. Will that get me banned?

    Re: Gay Marriage Amendment Dies in Senate (Again) (none / 0) (#19)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Jun 07, 2006 at 03:23:16 PM EST
    The American Society is geared towards divorce. Hell just to get married in CA. one needs to get tested for HIV and pay an arm and a leg for a marriage license. That's why Las Vegas is Popular. No tests and one can get married on the fly. However there a tons of divorce lawyers. So maybe the mindset is off since marriage is discouraged even with heteorsexual couples. So why should gay couples be encouraged to marry when every single state in the union except Nevada makes it difficult and time consuming to recieve a marriage license. I have nothing against gay couples getting married.

    Re: Gay Marriage Amendment Dies in Senate (Again) (none / 0) (#20)
    by Che's Lounge on Wed Jun 07, 2006 at 05:47:03 PM EST
    Patrick, Amen.

    Re: Gay Marriage Amendment Dies in Senate (Again) (none / 0) (#21)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Jun 07, 2006 at 05:49:54 PM EST
    KCinDC--Thanks for the breakdown, and the research that must have gone with it. I had been wondering. This is one of those "there are two kinds of people" things: People who support this amendment--and adults.

    Re: Gay Marriage Amendment Dies in Senate (Again) (none / 0) (#22)
    by cpinva on Wed Jun 07, 2006 at 06:17:35 PM EST
    sailor, you and patrick seem to be fixated on this "beating" thing, is there something you both want to share with the rest of the class? personally, i thought the "with sticks" part made it a tad kinky, but what do i know? lol patrick, good point about that more than one wife thing. however, let me note that i didn't say anything about another wife, just more than one women in a union. :) myself, i could not care less who marries who, or whom even, as long as all are consenting adults, and it has no adverse impact on me. what consenting adults do, in the privacy of their own bedrooms, is of absolutely no interest to me whatever. why it should be to anyone else is one of life's great mysteries. go figure.

    Re: Gay Marriage Amendment Dies in Senate (Again) (none / 0) (#23)
    by jimcee on Wed Jun 07, 2006 at 06:47:21 PM EST
    To a dumb amendment, RIP. This is a state-by-state decision not a Constitutional one. It didn't seem to work very well as a thrown bone to the rightious folks but came off more like pandering on the cheap.

    Re: Gay Marriage Amendment Dies in Senate (Again) (none / 0) (#24)
    by Aaron on Wed Jun 07, 2006 at 06:57:34 PM EST
    I just purchased 500 high-quality US flags, and will be burning one publicly for each remaining day of the Bush administration. You're all invited, just bring lots of hot dogs and beer.

    Re: Gay Marriage Amendment Dies in Senate (Again) (none / 0) (#25)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Jun 07, 2006 at 07:52:30 PM EST
    speaking of fighting against Rightist Whacko Ideology... my neighbor with the NAAWP (National Association for the Advancement of White People) sticker on his pick-up truck says he would put a round of buckshot through the bedroom window of anyone that burned "his" flag in public. i catch him looking in my windows at night when he sits in his driveway facing my bedroom with the headlights on in his truck. he seems to know when i get out of the shower. if we speak at all, the guy lets me in on where the "towel-heads" "fa**ots" and "sand-ni**ers" have been "infiltrating" the neighborhood. somehow he sees himself as the guardian of all that is "sacred" on the block. i believe he is the one who stole all of my Vote Kerry signs.... after 9/11, he installed two enormous floodlights and a 30ft. flag pole in front of his house, and we're less than 100 ft. apart. so i have no dark nights anymore because this guy is going to be VIGILANT!! those damned lights are going to be targets for my wrist rocket some night. all's fair, dontcha know....

    Re: Gay Marriage Amendment Dies in Senate (Again) (none / 0) (#26)
    by Aaron on Wed Jun 07, 2006 at 09:18:56 PM EST
    raulduke Wrist rocket? What are you like 12? If not I think you should step up to a modern-day autoloader. And forget the lights, I've got some incendiary rounds fresh from Iraq that will do a nice job on that flag. But never one to promote passive aggressive behavior, I would never encourage you to turn his flag into ashes each and every night of the week, no. But I can hook you up with a laser-painter which will allow you to guide in the laserguided bomb that will surgically remove him from the lot adjacent yours without disturbing the flowers in your flower bed. Ain't technology wonderful!

    Re: Gay Marriage Amendment Dies in Senate (Again) (none / 0) (#27)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Jun 07, 2006 at 09:34:30 PM EST
    well, im not one to ever damper one's enthusiasm for putting the fascists in their place, but i do try not to attract the attention of the federal authorities whilst doing so. so yes, a wrist rocket with a 4" carriage bolt projectile. and while you may think i'm underdoing it, it is more likely i'll actually get around to busting out those lights before you will ever commence to letting fly with any laser guided bombs. the only person i know who could get away with that was Hunter Thompson, and he's gone now.

    Re: Gay Marriage Amendment Dies in Senate (Again) (none / 0) (#28)
    by jondee on Wed Jun 07, 2006 at 10:09:06 PM EST
    Yeah one down, a coupla million to go. We're living in Gullivers Travels with the requisite Yahoos, Houyhnhnms etc.

    Re: Gay Marriage Amendment Dies in Senate (Again) (none / 0) (#29)
    by Jlvngstn on Thu Jun 08, 2006 at 07:00:34 AM EST
    50 years ago people wanted to give shock treatment to cure homosexuals, now we simply want them to find Jesus to cure them. And we claim we are not a nation of religious freaks? I wish someone could cure my green eyes and make them blue.

    Re: Gay Marriage Amendment Dies in Senate (Again) (none / 0) (#30)
    by kdog on Thu Jun 08, 2006 at 07:56:53 AM EST
    I caught a little talk radio last night, gay marriage came up, a listener made a great point. Call the jesus patrol's bluff. Wanna protect marriage? Fine. The #1 threat to marriage is divorce. Any amendment to protect marriage must include a ban on divorce. Makes sense right? Goodbye forever marriage amendment.

    Re: Gay Marriage Amendment Dies in Senate (Again) (none / 0) (#31)
    by Jlvngstn on Thu Jun 08, 2006 at 08:57:46 AM EST
    Nicely said Kdog. After all, when we are "protecting" something it usually involves a threat to those participating in it. Unless of course we are protecting the sanctity of marriage. Which then becomes an issue of separation of church and state being that the word by very definition means sacred. If that indeed is the case, then we should allow polygamy as according to the FLDS and the bible, it is sanctioned by God, even if only represented in the old testament. So which is it? Sanctity, discrimination and eradicating separation of church and state, or bloviation to defer attention to the abysmal state of the union? I vote for the latter.

    Re: Gay Marriage Amendment Dies in Senate (Again) (none / 0) (#32)
    by Jlvngstn on Thu Jun 08, 2006 at 09:05:43 AM EST
    In light of the discriminatory nature of a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage I ask this; where are all the anti-discrimination democrats on creating legislation to "protect gay marriage" as a constitutional right? If it is discriminatory for the federal goverment to ban it, why would it not be for any state? The legislation fails to protect homosexuals from discrimination, in fact I would argue that it promotes it. So again, where are all these champions of civil rights in the democratic party? Courage is not saying "I am against discriminatory legislation", however it is "I believe in the civil rights of every american and am proposing legislation that will end discrimination against homosexuals by legalizing their right to marry just as every other american". Either they are disingenous, cowards or a combination thereof.

    Re: Gay Marriage Amendment Dies in Senate (Again) (none / 0) (#33)
    by Jlvngstn on Thu Jun 08, 2006 at 12:32:26 PM EST
    Aren't there amendments to give women and negroes the right to vote and be treated equally? Why are homosexuals treated with less regard as humans?

    Re: Gay Marriage Amendment Dies in Senate (Again) (none / 0) (#34)
    by jondee on Thu Jun 08, 2006 at 08:50:25 PM EST
    Because after sustaining the crusade to keep women and "negros" relegated to their useful roles as inherently wicked, but trainable and useful chattels for hundreds of years, the neanderthals who would've liked to have kept it going indefinatly were finally outpaced by reality. Since then they've had to cast about for other targets; the urge is as natural to 'em as breathing: demonize the other in order to elevate the self. Monkeyman protecting his territory and acting on orders from his Monkey God.

    Re: Gay Marriage Amendment Dies in Senate (Again) (none / 0) (#35)
    by Jlvngstn on Fri Jun 09, 2006 at 05:38:55 AM EST
    Well when the demos start acting like they give a rats arse about anti-discrimination laws and demonstrate some fortitude, I will believe they are not repub lite. Until then, I will continue to say that they are not standing up for the rights of homosexuals any more than the republicans are trying to take them away.

    Gay Marriage Amendment Dies in Senate (Again) | 33 comments (33 topical)