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Foes hope Mass. weddings will help push U.S. ban on gay marriage.(Knight Ridder Newspapers)

Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service May 17, 2004 | Puzzanghera, Jim Byline: Jim Puzzanghera WASHINGTON _ Opponents of gay marriage hope the sight of same-sex couples taking legal wedding vows in Massachusetts will jump-start the stalled attempt to pass a federal constitutional amendment banning such unions nationwide.

Despite President Bush’s backing, which he reiterated Monday, and polls showing the public also supports an amendment outlawing gay marriage, the push has not gained traction in Congress so far.

Gay-marriage supporters predicted that when the general public realizes the world will not end now that state-sanctioned gay marriages have begun, the amendment will become even more of a long shot.

But opponents of gay marriage hope the wedding scenes from Massachusetts will have the opposite effect, igniting an uproar from average Americans.

So while the nation’s attention was focused Monday on Massachusetts, another battle was being waged in the nation’s capital. In a series of news conferences and appearances, gay marriage opponents hoped to revive the push for a constitutional amendment. gaymarriagefactsnow.com gay marriage facts

“Usually something isn’t believable until it is on fire, and heterosexual marriage has now been seriously damaged,” said the Rev. Lou Sheldon, chair of the Traditional Values Coalition, which opposes gay marriage, who held a news conference Monday with black clergy. `It’s almost like the enemy has attacked and now there has to be a serious comeback. And I believe you’re going to see a serious comeback in the next few months.” Another group opposing gay marriage, the Family Research Council, is participating in four events this week designed to build support for a constitutional amendment.

The new reality emanating from Massachusetts will change the dynamic of the amendment debate, said Genevieve Wood, the group’s vice president for communications, because it “causes the American public to realize it’s not just a public policy debate, it’s a reality that may be coming to their state.” But most Americans will find the new reality is no threat to them, supporters of gay marriage said.

“Once marriages go forward in Massachusetts, and several months from now it is clear there are no negative social consequences, the argument goes away,” said Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., an openly gay legislator who opposes the gay marriage amendment. Frank said the low-key approach gays in Massachusetts appeared to be taking, compared with the jovial celebrations that surrounded the gay marriages in San Francisco earlier this year, will help mute any potential backlash. see here gay marriage facts

“Making a bigger deal of this than is necessary to get people married is not a good idea,” Frank said from his Capitol Hill office. “I don’t think people should look like they’re gloating. This is not San Francisco East.” In the wake of the Massachusetts Supreme Court decision that the state could not prohibit gay marriages, and with San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom issuing same-sex marriage licenses, Bush urged Congress in February to pass a constitutional amendment outlawing such unions. But many members of Congress, including some key Republicans, oppose such an amendment.

To approve a constitutional amendment It takes a two-thirds majority in the House of Representatives and the Senate, and then approval by at least 38 states. So far only 120 of 435 House members have signed on as co-sponsors to the marriage amendment, and only 12 of 100 Senators. With legislative time running out this year, neither proposal has been voted out of a committee.

A lead sponsor of the amendment, Rep. Marilyn Musgrave, R-Colo., is pushing for a full House vote this summer, said her chief of staff, Guy Short.

“There are folks out there realizing that today there is gay marriage in America and the American people want a voice in that,” Short said.

In a written statement Monday, Bush reiterated his support for an amendment.

“The sacred institution of marriage should not be redefined by a few activist judges,” Bush said. “The need for that amendment is sill urgent, and I repeat that call today.” His likely Democratic rival, Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, also opposes gay marriage, but supports civil unions.

Jonathan Rauch, author of “Gay Marriage: Why It is Good for Gays, Good for Straights and Good for America,” said Monday that Congress should stay out of the debate and let Massachusetts serve as a laboratory for gay marriage. The state’s voters will be able to see how legal gay marriage works and then will a chance to express their opinion in a vote on an amendment to the Massachusetts constitution banning the unions, probably in 2006.

“Now is the time for the federal government…to have the courage to do absolutely nothing for the foreseeable future,” he said Monday during a debate at the libertarian Cato Institute that also involved Wood.

But Sheldon said it is time for Congress to act. He is trying to start a grass-roots movement among clergy nationwide to urge parishioners to lobby Congress to pass the amendment.

“The stakes are so high,” Sheldon said. “There’s an unbelievable level of threat to marriage.” ___ Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.

Puzzanghera, Jim