House vote on amendment to ban same-sex marriage fails

Published: 2004-10-01

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The U.S. House of Representatives rejected a proposed constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages Sept. 30. The Marriage Protection Amendment, backed by the nation's Catholic bishops, received 227 votes in favor to 186 against. To reach the two-thirds majority required for passage, it would have needed at least 290 votes. In a letter to House members Sept. 28, Bishop Wilton D. Gregory of Belleville, Ill., president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said marriage as the union of a man and a woman is not just a Catholic concern but "part of the common moral heritage of humanity." "It is precisely this moral heritage that must be protected today from a small but vocal minority that would alter the definition of marriage by making same-sex unions the legal equivalent of marriage," Bishop Gregory wrote. "A same-sex union is not equivalent to marriage," he added. "It is not based on the natural complementarity of male and female; it cannot cooperate with God to create new life; it cannot be a true conjugal union." He said marriage "is more than a lifestyle choice. It is an interpersonal relationship with public significance." The nation's bishops, he said "strongly believe that marriage is a basic human institution and that, though it is regulated by civil laws and church laws, it did not originate from either the church or the state, but from God. Accordingly, the bishops believe that neither church nor the state can alter the basic meaning and structure of marriage." In referendums this summer voters in Missouri and Louisiana overwhelmingly approved state constitutional amendments upholding the traditional definition of marriage, and voters in eight more states will be voting on similar amendments Nov. 2.

Copyright (c) 2004 Catholic News Service /U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service .