WASHINGTON -- The Senate on Wednesday
rejected the constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriage by
defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman.
The 49 to 48 vote fell 11 short of the 60 required to send the amendment
for an up-or-down tally by the full Senate, ensuring that the measure
won't get anywhere in the full Congress.
The defeat came despite daily appeals by President Bush, who supports the
amendment.
Democrats
say the whole gay-marriage amendment issue is an attempt by President Bush
and the Republican Party to muster conservative support before the
November congressional elections and to divert public attention from more
pressing issues like the war in Iraq that reflect poorly on Republicans.
"It is a cynical attempt to score political points by overriding state
courts and intruding into individuals' private lives," Democratic Sen.
Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts said in floor debate on Tuesday.
Republican leaders will continue to push the amendment by bringing it up
in the U.S. House of Representatives in July even though they do not
expect it to get the two-thirds majority needed for the amendment to pass.
"This is a big issue for lots of our members and frankly for lots of
Americans," House Republican Leader John Boehner of Ohio told reporters on
Tuesday.
Constitutional amendments need to pass by two-thirds vote in both houses
of Congress so the House vote will be mostly symbolic.
Democrats
say the whole gay-marriage amendment issue is an attempt by President Bush
and the Republican Party to muster conservative support before the
November congressional elections and to divert public attention from more
pressing issues like the war in Iraq that reflect poorly on Republicans.
The Hunk
