Originally posted by shortbun
Wednesday, the United States Senate and Congress will vote
on wether to introduce a constitutional amendment banning
same sex marriage. An ammendment to remove rights from citizens has never been added to the constitution and I hope
you are all aware that this is a huge departure from the Republican platform issue of smaller government as well as
religious legistation. This legislation has no place in our constitution and regardless of how you feel personally on this
issue, I hope you are able to step up and protect our constitution
from special interests and private religious beliefs.
Please call your congressional representative and your Senators
tomorrow. Waiting another day will be too late. The constitution is not the place for partisan politics.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm...08/co_po/gayrepublicanschallengefristovervote
Quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Christopher Curtis, PlanetOut Network
SUMMARY: The leader of the nation's largest gay Republican group sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, challenging his reasons for scheduling a Federal Marriage Amendment vote.
On Wednesday the leader of the nation's largest gay Republican group sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., asking why the U.S. Senate is considering the Federal Marriage Amendment (FMA) instead of more pressing issues.
The Senate vote on the FMA, which proposes to amend the Constitution to forbid same-sex couples from marrying, is scheduled for next week.
But as recently as Tuesday, the political newspaper Roll Call reported that Frist acknowledged it would be difficult getting the necessary 67 votes to pass the measure.
Patrick Guerriero, executive director of the Log Cabin Republicans (news - web sites), addressed the issue to Frist: "As Senate Majority Leader, you know there are nowhere near the 67 votes needed for passage of the FMA. In fact, there aren't even 60 votes for cloture."
Cloture is the only procedure by which the Senate can vote to place a time limit on the consideration of a bill and thereby overcome a filibuster.
Guerriero continued: "The question then becomes, why, at a time when our nation and our party ought to be coming together, would you choose to divide us on a vote you already know will fail? There's a one-word answer to that question -- politics."
Roll Call noted that Frist faced a grilling by the press on June 25 about the timing of the FMA vote. The press asked Frist about remarks made by his Republican colleagues who want the FMA vote in order to make Sen. John Kerry (news - web sites), D-Mass., confront the marriage issue just before he accepts the Democratic nomination for president.
Frist told the paper his schedule had nothing to do with the Democratic National Convention, which takes place in Boston July 26-29.
Instead Frist claimed the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court forced him to act by allowing same-sex marriages to begin on May 17.
"Every day I put it off, people are getting married," Frist told the paper. "It's a deterioration in an institution that the American people value."
But in his letter Guerriero argued it would be the FMA that would weaken America: "For the first time ever, an amendment to our nation's precious founding document would treat one segment of the American family different from all the rest."
"The Senate should be addressing real issues," Guerriero concluded. "The Senate should be debating how to fund efforts to secure our homeland, to support our troops in Iraq (news - web sites) and to strengthen our nation's economy. Every moment spent debating this discriminatory amendment comes at the expense of these priorities."
The PlanetOut.com Network contacted Sen. Frist's office for comment but did not get a response by press time.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
