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House debating gay marriage ban
Posted at: Thursday, February 26, 2004, 03:28 PM
The Georgia House of Representatives rejected by three votes a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage Thursday evening.
Debate on the controversial measure began at 2:50 p.m. and wrapped up at about 6:15 p.m.
The first speaker of the GOP-sponsored measure was a Democrat who urged its passage.
Mike Boggs (D-Waycross) said lawmakers had an opportunity to protect the state against “activist judges” who might try to overturn the state law that bars same-sex marriage.
“Whether you’re a Democrat or a Republican, we have seldom had an opportunity to stand up for things that are common-sensical, things that stand up for Christian values,” Boggs said.
He was followed by Republican Bill Hembree, of Douglasville, who concurred with Boggs.
“Stand up in the defense of marriage,” said Hembree, after reading the definition of marriage from a dictionary as between “husband and wife.”
Hembree and other supporters repeatedly urged the chamber not to change the bill, and to vote for the bill so “the people can decide.”
Rep. Bob Holmes argued against the bill, saying “activist judges” often issue rulings that are in the public’s best interest. He cited rulings pertaining to the Voting Rights Act, guaranteeing voting rights for African-Americans.
“This goes beyond the notion of preventing same-sex marriage,” Holmes said. “We’re not talking about special privileges … we’re going to constitutionally discriminate against this segment of the population.”
Holmes disputed Republican assertions that a constitutional amendment would provide more protection than the current state law against a ban being overturned by the courts.
Rep. Stephanie Stuckey Benfield (D-Decatur) said the amendment would threaten domestic partner benefits many large Georgia companies, such as Coca-Cola and BellSouth, offer members of gay couples.
She also asked if legislators thought the amendment would make gay couples go away.
“If anything, it will make them stronger,” Benfield said.
Rep. Kathy Ashe (D-Atlanta), the 10th speaker on the resolution, said she hoped one day politicians would move past “attacking gay folks for political advantage.”
“Tonight, if we move this resolution forward I will go home and cry. I will cry for the lost hopes and dreams of thousands of my constituents who simply want to live their lives the way so many of us do every day.”
“Nobody can stand here and say that anyone is harmed by two loving individuals pledging their love for one another. … People who are not harming anyone deserve to be left alone. I thought both political parties believed that. Today, that lie is being exposed.”
Rep. Nan Orrock (D-Atlanta) said members would live to regret a vote in favor of the ban. Like previous speakers, she invoked the legacy of civil rights legend Martin Luther King Jr.
“Folks, this is the same thing as when legislatures put Jim Crow laws and codified them in their law books. You’re saying that people because of their status are not allowed to have the same rights as us.”
In a passionate speech, Rep. Alisha Thomas-Morgan (D-Austell) chastised Republicans for seeking to interfere with Georgians’ lives and in their bedrooms.
“How is it when you talk about less government, you want to talk about what people can do?” she said.
Thomas-Morgan said she is a Christian and opposes “this hateful bill.” She said she consulted her pastor and he told her to vote her conscience and he would support her.
“I urge you to have some guts,” she told her colleagues. “Have some courage.”
By about 5 p.m., 17 House members had spoken on the resolution in more than two hours of debate. Six had spoken in favor of it, 11 against.
Rep. Larry Walker (D-Perry), who is not running for re-election after 31 years in the legislature, said he supports the resolution but announced he would offer an amendment that he said would strengthen it. The change would drop language saying “no union between persons of the same sex shall be recognized by this state as entitled to the benefits of marriage.” The language has raised questions about whether companies and local governments would be able to offer health benefits to domestic partners.
Under Walker’s change, the resolution would say only, “the state shall recognize as marriage only the union of man and woman. Marriages between persons of the same sex are prohibited in this state.”
A hush fell over the chamber as Rep. Karla Drenner (D-Avondale Estates) took the podium to speak. Drenner is the only openly gay legislator in the General Assembly. She spoke in largely personal terms, telling colleagues she didn’t expect to change minds but wanted them to know more about her.
Drenner noted that she was raised Southern Baptist and is a mother. She wasn’t raised to be gay, and isn’t raising her children to be gay. She said she’s more than just a gay legislator.
“I have a tag line: the only openly lesbian legislator. That’s what I have become as a result of this. I wear that label, but I am more than that label. I represent 45,000 people just like you do,” she said.
Drenner went on to condemn Senate Resolution 595, saying President Bush declared war on gay people when he announced this week that he would support a ban in the U.S. Constitution.
“This amendment does not create more jobs, it does not improve education, nor does it provide access to affordable housing and healthcare,” she said. “It seeks to vilify and persecute an already oppressed minority.”
The bill passed a crucial committee vote this afternoon.
By a 23-6 vote, the House Rules Committee passed Senate Resolution 595 to the House floor for debate. If it passes without change in the full House, where it needs the vote of 120 of 180 members, it would be placed on the November ballot for a vote.
Rep. Calvin Smyre (D-Columbus), chairman of the House Rules Committee, asked for a roll-call vote on the resolution.
The committee’s secretary then read each member’s name. Twenty-three members said “yes” while only six said “no” to the amendment; one member was absent.
“S.R. 595 is voted out of committee and onto the general calendar,” Smyre said after that vote. “Now, for the bill to go on the floor for debate.”
By a voice vote, House Rules members then immediately voted to discuss the bill before the full House, which was to convene at 2 p.m.
The Rules Committee, which had quizzed the Senate sponsor during an early-morning meeting, took only a few minutes to pass the resolution. Rep. Bob Holmes (D-Atlanta) attempted to add an amendment that would strike out part of SR 595, but it failed.
Some people opposed to the resolution contend that it would deny domestic partnership benefits to same-sex couples. Republicans have said the resolution would have no effect on such benefits given by private businesses.
Earlier, Smyre also promised changes to the resolution. That would necessitate its reconsideration by the state Senate, which has already passed the ban.
“We will come back and perfect the legislation,” Smyre said.
At this morning’s session of Rules, Democratic House members blasted the proposed constitutional ban as flawed and questioned the sponsor’s motives.
Sen. Mike Crotts (R-Conyers), the resolution’s sponsor, said he was not surprised by the meeting’s tone.
“It went pretty much like I expected it,” Crotts said. “They are under fire on this issue, and the people in the state want to vote on it.”
Committee members took the measure apart, almost line by line.
Rep. Nan Orrock (D-Atlanta), said Crotts’ contention that the bill protects the state from “activist judges” who would want to change the current law is weak and that the bill would put the state more at risk of legal action.
“While you claim that you are not prejudiced and you love black people and you go to church with black people, you want to pass a bill saying that some people should be excluded from the Constitution,” Orrock said. “That is not equal protection.”
“Equal protection is what we have,” Crotts shot back. “They want special rights.”
Smyre adjourned the meeting after 50 minutes to allow members of the committee to convene with the full House, which started at 10 a.m. Smyre said the committee meeting will resume later in the day but he was unsure about a vote.
House Majority Leader Jimmy Skipper (D-Americus) said several legislators had called in and were having trouble making it to the Capitol because of the weather. Only three of the 30 members of the Rules Committee were absent, however.
The proposed amendment, which if it passed the Legislature would have to be voted on by the public in November, would define marriage in Georgia as a union strictly between a man and a woman.
Democrats make up 23 of the 30 committee members, but they said they had no unified position on the resolution.
Smyre is chairman of the Rules Committee, which decides which bills make it to the House floor for debate. He did not allow public comment during the committee meeting.
He said his office has received a total of more than 2,000 calls on the issue.
The Rules Committee must take two votes to consider whether SR 595 will make it to the full House for debate. The first positive vote would put it on the general calendar. The second, which leaders said would not come before next week, would put the measure on the Rules calendar, which is the agenda for the full House.
In committee, a simple majority is required for passage of the resolution, which already has passed the GOP-controlled Senate.
But on the House floor, a constitutional amendment requires approval by two-thirds of the 180 members, or 120 votes. Democrats control the House 108-71, with one independent.
Democrats might alter the legislation in the Rules Committee and place the legislation’s final fate — assuming it passed the full House — in the hands of a six-member conference committee that could further change or kill the measure.
The Republican resolution passed the GOP-held Senate, where 38 votes were required, 40-14. The party holds a 30-26 majority there.
— Ernie Suggs and Carlos Campos, ajc.com
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