US Senate Blocks Ban On Same-Sex Marriage

But Christian groups and Republican supporters vowed continued efforts to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

Gay marriage proponents were unable to secure the 60 votes needed to clear a Democratic procedural hurdle and move to a vote on the passage of the proposed constitutional amendment, reported Reuters on Thursday, July 15.

Three of 48 Democrats ended up voting to end their party’s procedural hurdle while six of the 51 Republicans broke ranks and voted to maintain it after a number of Republicans disagreed earlier this week over the wording of the proposed amendment.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, a Utah Republican, said: "Nobody wants to discriminate against gays … Gays have a right to live the way they want. But they should not have the right to change the definition of traditional marriage. That is where we draw the line."

White House Democratic hopeful John Kerry and fellow Senate Democrats accused President George W. Bush and many of his fellow Republicans of pushing the proposal merely to rally their conservative base for the November presidential and congressional elections.

Democrats also charged that four days of Senate debate on it could have been better spent on such issues as health care, the economy, education or national security.

Bush in February called on the Congress to approve an amendment after Massachusetts’ highest court ruled gay couples had a right to wed and San Francisco began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

This helped trigger a crush of lawsuits, some challenging the right of one state to refuse to recognize a same-sex marriage licensed in another.

Even in defeat, Senate Republicans obtained at least two goals: They got a debate on what they denounced as "activist judges" defying the will of the public by permitting same sex-marriage and put senators on the record, according to Reuters.

"It’s been a good debate," said Senator Jeff Sessions, an Alabama Republican.

Republicans contend gay marriage devalues traditional marriage which is a pillar of civilization and should be outlawed for the sake of children.

Kerry and his vice presidential running mate, Senator John Edwards of North Carolina, oppose same sex-marriage, but argue amending the Constitution is not the answer.

Like most Democratic lawmakers, they say states should have the power to define marriage.

The duo were the only senators who did not vote on the procedural hurdle.

Both said they would have interrupted their campaigns and been in the Senate, however, if there had been a vote on passage of the measure.

No Surrender

For his part, Bush said he will carry on trying to make homosexual marriages illegal in the United States.

"Activist judges and local officials in some parts of the country are not letting up in their efforts to redefine marriage for the rest of America – and neither should defenders of traditional marriage flag in their efforts," the BBC News Online quoted Bush as saying after the vote.

The Republican-led House of Representatives plans to consider a similar proposal later this year.

For a proposed constitutional amendment to become law, it must be approved by two-thirds of the House and Senate and then ratified by 38 of the 50 states.

Evangelical Christian groups also said they would continue to push for a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage in what is expected to be a 10-year battle.

The amendment’s religious backers said in the short term they would look to referendums at the state level, reported the Washington Post Thursday.

Leaders of the Arlington Group, a coalition of 53 religious organizations that have been working together to oppose same-sex marriage, maintained that the Senate block was not a major setback.

"I look at this as a 10-year fight. This is Day One," said Charles W. Colson, a Nixon White House staff member who was convicted in the Watergate scandal and now heads Prison Fellowship Ministries.

At least nine states, and possibly as many as 12, will have state constitutional amendments against same-sex marriage on the ballot in elections this summer and fall.

Polls show most Americans oppose same-sex marriage, but are split on whether a constitutional ban is needed. Surveys also find voters believe many other issues are more important.

"The polls tell us that most people oppose gay marriage," said Pew pollster Andrew Kohut.

Protests against gay marriage were held in February in Boston, with American demonstrators building support for a state constitutional amendment defining marriage as between one man and one woman.

Gay marriage is totally prohibited in Islam as well as in all the divine religions.

"Emphatically, Islam forbids homosexuality and lesbianism and regard them as a violation of the commands of Allah. In both the Old and the New Testaments, all Prophets of God forbid such evil activities and punish severely those who practice them," said Dr. Muhammad M. Abu Laylah, a professor of Islamic Studies and Comparative Religions at Al-Azhar University.

He stressed that marriage in Islam, as in all divine religions, does not mean sexual enjoyment only but also the establishment of a family on hygienic and safe foundations.