The Pennsylvania
state senate voted in favor of a proposed constitutional
amendment that would ban same-sex marriage Wednesday,
although in a blow to conservatives, it defeated an
additional proposal to ban civil unions. Earlier this
month, the Pennsylvania house approved both the marriage and
civil-unions bans, but in order to send any bill to voters
in 2007 as supporters hope to do, the two chambers
will have to unify their measures by August
7--and a two-month legislative recess begins next
week, the Associated Press reports.
The delay effectively means the earliest a
marriage or civil-unions ban could be put before
voters in a statewide referendum is 2008, since
Pennsylvania law requires any constitutional amendment to be
approved by the house and senate in Harrisburg in two
consecutive legislative sessions. A 1996 state law
already defines marriage as a union between a man and
a woman, but conservatives think an amendment to the
constitution is necessary to prevent courts from deciding otherwise.
But progressives, predictably, disagree. "If
we're concerned about the sanctity of marriage, I
don't know how it hurts your marriage...if
some gay couple in Philadelphia is living together," Senator
Vincent J. Fumo, D-Philadelphia, said according to the
AP. "Mind your own business, stay out of the bedroom."
Added Senator Jim Ferlo, D-Allegheny: "This
measure is disheartening, it is divisive, and it is
diversionary to say the least. The Pennsylvania
Constitution should not be tarnished with this measure."
(The Advocate)
