[ + ] Text [ – ]

By Evan Wolfson: ANALYSIS: What's all this talk about amending the Constitution?

Freedom to Marry
January 21, 2004

The Constitution of the United States is a treasured safeguard for every person's basic freedom and for our nation's unity. Generations of Americans have fought for and respected this charter of freedom. Since the adoption of the Bill of Rights in 1791, the Constitution has only been amended seventeen times — never to take away rights or equality from any group of Americans.

Now, under fierce pressure from right-wing groups hostile to gay people and opposed to the separation of church and state, some politicians are flirting with a proposed anti-gay amendment that would cement discrimination into the Constitution. The current version circulating in Congress and not repudiated by the White House reads:

"Marriage in the United States shall consist only of the union of a man and a woman. Neither this Constitution nor the constitution of any state, nor state or federal law, shall be construed to require that marital status or the legal incidents thereof be conferred upon unmarried couples or groups."

This sweeping anti-gay amendment is intended to do two things:

1. intrude the federal government into the regulation of marriage to prevent all states and all future generations from providing marriage equality to committed same-sex couples, no matter what, and
2. prevent state and local governments, as well as the federal government and in many cases private employers, from providing any other measure of protection ("the legal incidents" of marriage") to gay people and their families as well as other unmarried Americans and their children.

There is nothing conservative about this effort to write anti-gay discrimination into the Constitution. For that reason, many conservative voices have spoken out against this political abuse of the Constitution, including Vice-President Dick Cheney, Senators Chuck Hagel and Jon Ensign, columnist George Will, and even former Congressman Bob Barr (author of the 1996 federal law discriminating against gay people's marriages).

Our nation's founders wisely made it very difficult to amend the Constitution. Amendments require approval of two-thirds of the Senate and House and three-quarters of the state legislatures. But right-wing groups are mobilizing millions of dollars in this election-year to stampede politicians around the country and intimidate judges. They recklessly attack courts for following the law and upholding constitutional protections for all Americans.

Discrimination has no place in government, in marriage or in the Constitution. Politicians who play with fire near our nation's most precious document are the greatest threat to American families and values. All Americans, gay and non-gay, deserve respect and support for their families and basic freedoms. Government should not be putting obstacles in the path of people seeking to care for their loved ones. And candidates, president or otherwise, should be uniting the American people, not dividing us, at a time of challenge for freedom in the world.

For information on the anti-gay groups pushing this attack:

NGLTF's ANALYSIS OF THE ANTI-GAY RIGHT: Are They Really Interested in 'Building Strong and Healthy Marriages?' (pdf)
October 2003
The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force's (NGLTF) examination of the organizations promoting "Marriage Protection Week" concludes that these groups are well-funded and politically powerful—they put out a lot of anti-gay rhetoric while having little "actual focus on marriage and families."

For more information on fighting this dangerous assault on our Constitution and families, see these resources from our partner organizations:

• ACLU's "Take Action" — Oppose amending the Constitution
• HRC's Marriage Center
• NGLTF's Marriage Resource Center