Senate Candidate: Missouri's Mandate on Same-Sex 'Marriage' Could Be Catalyst

by Chad Groening and Jody Brown
August 11, 2004

(AgapePress) - A best-selling author and lecturer who wants to replace Dick Gephardt in the U.S. Congress says he is encouraged that the voters in his state overwhelmingly support a state constitutional amendment that defines marriage as the union between one man and one woman.

Bill Federer won the recent Republican primary in Missouri and will face Russ Carnahan, the son of former Missouri Governor Mel Carnahan, in the November congressional election. His candidacy has been endorsed by individuals such as Dr. James Dobson of Focus on the Family, Roy Moore, Phyllis Schlafly of Eagle Forum, and Alan Keyes, himself now a candidate for a U.S. Senate seat from Illinois.

Federer thinks the people of the Show Me State sent a message to the rest of the nation about the heartland's desire to stop homosexual "marriage."

"We did get an overwhelming 70 percent-plus people in the state of Missouri [who] voted to define marriage as one man and one woman. It's part of the amendment to the state constitution," Federer says. "And since we in the heartland of America made such a strong statement for marriage, this will be an encouragement to the other states around that country that, yes, they too can stand up and keep marriage with the traditional definition."

In fact, marriage amendments are on the ballots in at least nine other states between now and November 2, when Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, Montana, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Utah consider the legislation. Marriage protection initiatives also are pending in Michigan, Ohio, and North Dakota.

First up, however, is Louisiana, which will be considering a marriage amendment to their state constitution on September 18. As suggested by Federer, at least one supporter of the measure in the Bayou State sees Missouri as the model to follow. In an interview with Family News In Focus, Gene Mills of the Louisiana Family Foundation said he expects Louisiana to vote 80 percent in favor of a marriage amendment -- and he thinks the entire country is in a "Missouri mood."

Federer points out the marriage amendment passed in Missouri despite the efforts of Democratic Governor Bob Holden. He says Holden "pulled a sort of underhanded trick" to get the measure on the primary ballot rather than on the general ballot in November.

"The Republicans pushed through this amendment, [and their] hope was to get it on the November ballot to get a large turnout of conservative voters at the general election," the Senate candidate explains. "Instead, Bob Holden pushed to get it on the August ballot -- but it backfired on him and he got voted out."

Holden became the first Missouri governor ever to lose in a primary. Federer believes the governor's opposition to the marriage amendment played a role in his defeat.