Basic Rights Oregon Denounces Federal Marriage Amendment

A Statement from Roey Thorpe, Executive Director of Basic Rights Oregon.

Members of Basic Rights Oregon demonstrating along the State Street side of the State Capitol in Salem Photo By: Tim King

(SALEM) - As the United States Senate gears up on debate over the Federal Marriage Amendment, one thing is clear. The 2006 mid-term elections are nearing and this is merely about diverting America's attention from foreign and domestic failures brought on by the far-right Republican leadership.

What's the reason for bringing this immoral attack on gay and lesbians and their families at this moment? It is nothing more than a cynical political move given the current political crisis in the conservative leadership in this country.

They are using fear and misunderstanding to divert attention from the issues that are actually important to working Americans, while at the same time denigrating, demonizing and defaming gay and lesbian people and our families.

This amendment is divisive and unnecessary.

This amendment contradicts the most basic American values of fairness and equality.

The Senate is expected to vote Wednesday on whether to invoke closure or limit debate on the amendment.

Even proponents of the measure agree that support for the Federal Marriage Amendment falls short of even a simple 51-vote majority, far less than the 67 votes needed to amend the Constitution.

This further drives the point that the extremists within the Republican leadership are using and harming the lives of American families, solely as a vulgar maneuver to pander to the right-wing extremists for political gain.

This would be the first time in history that an amendment would actually add discrimination into a document that over time has come to be the very thing that protects us all. Our Constitution is a sacred document, not to be used to discriminate against a minority.

Even the most recent nationwide polling shows that a majority of Americans are becoming increasingly supportive of equality under the law for gay and lesbian families, and increasingly opposed to meddling with a document as sacred as the U.S. Constitution.

This newest revival of an already rejected amendment further demonstrates that the far-right leadership's views are out of step with the majority of Americans who are much more concerned with livable wages, rising healthcare costs, education, cost of oil and deeply worried about the ongoing war in Iraq.