Marriage Amendment on Horizon in at Least Nine More States
by Allie Martin and Jody Brown
November 12, 2004
(AgapePress) - A west Texas lawmaker has proposed a constitutional amendment that would define marriage as the union of one man and one woman. The Lone Star State is but one of several states that are making similar moves in the wake of Election Day's 11-for-11 performance, when every state considering a marriage amendment approved the measure decisively.
Last year, the Texas Legislature passed the Defense of Marriage Act. As early as next fall, voters in Texas may have the opportunity to vote on a constitutional amendment defining marriage because this week, State Representative Warren Chisum, a Republican from Pampa, "pre-filed" his proposed constitutional amendment (H.J.R. 6). The next legislative session for the state lawmakers opens on January 11, 2005.
Hiram Sasser, with the Texas-based Liberty Legal Institute, says such an amendment is necessary.
"Judges eventually decide these issues," he explains, "and we always have a fear of these activist judges who will try to use a constitution, in this case the constitution of Texas, to thwart the will of the people that's already been represented by passing the Defense of Marriage Act." The attorney says a marriage amendment to the Texas constitution would act as a "check" allowing the people to "vote with their own hands so they can put a check themselves against those judges."
The Liberty Legal spokesman believes Texas voters would easily approve such an amendment. "Texas is now geared up to pass its own marriage amendment," he says, "and the first part of the process is to put it before both houses in our legislature and get two-thirds of the vote -- and then it will go to a vote of the people."
Another Texas attorney, Kelly Shackelford with the Free Market Foundation, says the citizens of his state "strongly believe" marriage is between a man and a woman. "This is the only way people are getting to have a say," he tells Family News In Focus. "The homosexual activists and their whole plan is to go through activist judges and force this on all the people with anybody ever having a right to vote. Well, the people are reacting."
Shackelford maintains that the people of Texas are not going to "stand by silently" and allow "activist courts" to take the issue out of voters' hands.
Reaction is not limited to the Lone Star State. Like Representative Chisum, lawmakers in Virginia have pre-filed legislation calling for a constitutional amendment limiting marriage to one man and one woman. And legislators in four other states -- Alabama, Idaho, South Carolina, and Washington -- have stated their intention to introduce marriage amendments as soon as possible.
Similar measures are already being processed in Tennessee and Wisconsin -- as well as in Massachusetts, the state some credit with igniting the firestorm of support for state marriage amendments. A 4-3 decision by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court in November 2003 legalized same-sex marriage in that state.
