Former U.S.
senator John Danforth says a conservative push to ban
same-sex marriage through a federal constitutional amendment
is silly, calling it the latest example of how the
political influence of evangelical Christians is
hurting the GOP. Danforth, a Missouri Republican and
an Episcopal priest, made the comments in a speech
Saturday night in Washington, D.C., to the gay
political group Log Cabin Republicans.
He said history has shown that attempts to
regulate human behavior with constitutional amendments
are misguided. "Once before, the Constitution was
amended to try to deal with matters of human behavior;
that was prohibition. That was such a flop that that was
repealed 13 years later," Danforth said.
Referring to the marriage amendment, he added
that perhaps at some point in history there was a
constitutional amendment proposed that was "sillier
than this one, but I don't know of one."
The Senate is scheduled to vote in June on a
constitutional amendment that its supporters hope will
head off any decision in the federal courts that could
legalize same-sex marriage. The measure would need to be
approved by two thirds of those voting in the House and
Senate and then be ratified by at least 38 state legislatures.
But Danforth said he is opposed. "The basic
concept of the Republican Party is to interpret the
Constitution narrowly, not expansively, so that
legislatures, and especially state legislatures, can work
out over a period of time the social issues in our
country," he said. (AP)