Some Tennessee congressmen back ban on gay marriage
The issue has started to gain steam following San Francisco’s decision to issue marriage licenses to gays and lesbians. That followed a decision by the highest court in Massachusetts to rule that state should allow gay marriages.
Some in Congress think it’s time to get involved, and preserve “traditional marriage” before court decisions force states like Tennessee to accept gay marriages from other states.
Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander told the Washington bureau of The Knoxville News Sentinel that current law giving states the authority to set marriage laws is enough.
“Federal law makes clear our state’s right” to enforce its law defining marriage as between a man and a woman, Alexander said. “I am not persuaded that amending the Constitution is necessary.”
U.S. Rep. John J. Duncan Jr., a Knoxville Republican, said he signed onto the list of 112 House members supporting a constitutional amendment after receiving “many, many” requests from residents to “go further.”
Rep. Lincoln Davis, a Pall Mall Democrat, earlier joined Rep. Zach Wamp, a Chattanooga Republican, on the bill.
“I just think that we need to do everything that we possibly can to support traditional marriage as an institution, and I think that it’s the best thing for children to have marriage being between a man and a woman and being something that is very, very special in that way,” Davis said Wednesday.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., earlier endorsed the constitutional approach but has not signed the list of support yet.
Tennessee currently is one of 38 states with laws or a constitution allowing marriages only between a man and a woman.
A constitutional amendment could prove to be an uphill battle. It would require support from two-thirds of both houses of Congress — and at least three-fourths of the legislatures in each state.
The last amendment passed, the 27th, concerned legislative pay and took nearly 200 years before it was ratified in 1992. It was first proposed in 1789.
President Bush has not said whether he would endorse a constitutional ban on gay marriage.