Some members of the radical right are aggressively campaigning to amend the U.S. Constitution to deny the right to marry to same-sex couples in committed relationships. The proposed amendment (H.J. Res 56/S.J. Res 26) could also invalidate all state and local domestic partnership laws and nullify civil rights protections based on marital status.
Today we look back, almost disbelieving, on the time when many Americans did not tolerate marriage between Catholics and Protestants and between people of different races. Unfortunately, our laws continue to deny a basic right to marry to two adults simply because they are gay or lesbian. Now, some want to write that discrimination into the U.S. Constitution.
Gay Americans serve in the military, keep our communities safe as firefighters and police officers, staff our hospitals, build our cities, and pay taxes. Denying gay couples the right to marry takes away legal rights in pensions, health insurance, hospital visitations and inheritance that other committed couples enjoy.
Take Action! Oppose the Federal Marriage Amendment!
Amending the Constitution is an extreme act.
The proposed amendment would deny the right to marry to gay and lesbian couples and in doing so obliterate the family rights that many same-sex couples -- and unmarried heterosexual couples -- and their families now have. Revising the Constitution to ensure discrimination against anyone in America is wrong and should be rejected.
The Federal Marriage Amendment is unnecessary.
Even though the country has periodically struggled with the question of marriage -- the last law prohibiting people of different races from marrying was overturned only 35 years ago -- we have never taken the step of amending the Constitution to define marriage. Now is not the time to begin to use the Constitution as a tool for discrimination.
The Federal Marriage Amendment rejects American traditions of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It would reverse the constitutional tradition of protecting individual freedoms. None of our constitutional amendments restrict individual freedoms. In fact, the amendments to the Constitution have been the source of most of the Constitution's protections for individual liberty rights. The proposed amendment, by contrast, would deny all protection for the most personal decisions made by millions of people in committed long-term relationships.
Some members of the radical right are aggressively campaigning to amend the U.S. Constitution to deny the right to marry to same-sex couples in committed relationships. The proposed amendment (H.J. Res 56/S.J. Res 26) could also invalidate all state and local domestic partnership laws and nullify civil rights protections based on marital status.
Today we look back, almost disbelieving, on the time when many Americans did not tolerate marriage between Catholics and Protestants and between people of different races. Unfortunately, our laws continue to deny a basic right to marry to two adults simply because they are gay or lesbian. Now, some want to write that discrimination into the U.S. Constitution.
Gay Americans serve in the military, keep our communities safe as firefighters and police officers, staff our hospitals, build our cities, and pay taxes. Denying gay couples the right to marry takes away legal rights in pensions, health insurance, hospital visitations and inheritance that other committed couples enjoy.
Take Action! Oppose the Federal Marriage Amendment!
Amending the Constitution is an extreme act.
The proposed amendment would deny the right to marry to gay and lesbian couples and in doing so obliterate the family rights that many same-sex couples -- and unmarried heterosexual couples -- and their families now have. Revising the Constitution to ensure discrimination against anyone in America is wrong and should be rejected.
The Federal Marriage Amendment is unnecessary.
Even though the country has periodically struggled with the question of marriage -- the last law prohibiting people of different races from marrying was overturned only 35 years ago -- we have never taken the step of amending the Constitution to define marriage. Now is not the time to begin to use the Constitution as a tool for discrimination.
The Federal Marriage Amendment rejects American traditions of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It would reverse the constitutional tradition of protecting individual freedoms. None of our constitutional amendments restrict individual freedoms. In fact, the amendments to the Constitution have been the source of most of the Constitution's protections for individual liberty rights. The proposed amendment, by contrast, would deny all protection for the most personal decisions made by millions of people in committed long-term relationships.