Marriage Protection Issue Should Be Non-Partisan, Says Congressman

by Mary Rettig and Jody Brown
July 19, 2006

(AgapePress) - - In the wake of the U.S. House failing to pass the Marriage Protection Amendment, one Democratic congressman who voted for the measure says the issue of homosexual "marriage" is not one that can be defined by party platforms.

Forty-five states already have either constitutional amendments or some other statute on the books upholding traditional marriage. And on Tuesday the House voted 236-187 to define marriage as the union of a man and a woman -- but that was less than the two-thirds majority needed for legislation proposing an amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Supporters like Indiana Congressman Mike Pence and Colorado's Bob Beauprez argued that marriage was created by God, so nobody has the right to redefine it. Missouri Congressman Emanuel Cleaver disagreed, arguing that churches should be able to redefine marriage to include the union of two men or two women without government interference.

Representative Mike McIntyre of North Carolina voted in favor of the amendment and was a sponsor of the legislation. McIntyre says his Christian faith would not allow him to fall under the pressure to follow the majority of his fellow Democrats. "To me this is not an issue about party or about geography or about economic or social division or class," the congressman says. "It's an issue that affects all people of all ages, of all backgrounds, of all races."

Because of his stand, he was given a "Defender of Marriage" award on Tuesday by the group Alliance for Marriage. "I was blessed when I received [that award] that one of the groups sponsoring that was CORE -- the Congress on Racial Equality, a group that has been traditionally a strong civil rights group," he shares. "And we had African-American pastors and a Hispanic pastor, in fact, there."

McIntyre says when it comes to marriage, it is unlike any other issue that may come up for debate in the House. It is a foundational truth, he says, that marriage is only for one man and one woman.

Dobson: 'Remember in November'
Dr. James Dobson would agree with Congressman McIntyre -- but because not enough of McIntyre's fellow House members agreed with him, the pro-family leader reminds "values voters" they'll have their chance to voice their displeasure in a few months.

Dr. James Dobson

"Once again," says Dobson, chairman of Focus on the Family, "the men and women representing their constituents in Washington have betrayed those who put them in power. Like the Senate did before them, the House has refused to protect the institution of marriage from activist judges bent on redefining it."

Dobson refers to the fact that 20 states have now amended their own constitutions defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman, and that many others have enacted "defense of marriage" legislation. That represents "tens of millions" of voters, notes Dobson, whose "beliefs and desires have been disregarded."

"We are seeing increasing signs that many of those voters are fed up with Washington," he states. "We certainly intend to tell them how their senators and congressmen voted on the Marriage Protection Amendment." Many, he adds, will "remember in November" -- a reference to the upcoming election cycle, when the entire membership of the U.S. House is up for re-election.