Gay Marriage Amendment Fails

[freetobegay]

(Washington) The US House of Representatives failed Thursday to get enough votes to pass a proposed amendment to the Constitution to bar same-sex marriage.

227 members voted for the amendment, while 186 voted against it, falling short of the two-thirds needed for passage.

Members of Congress of both sides of the House made impassioned speeches.

In kicking off the debate the sponsor of the bill, Marilyn Musgrave (R-Colo.) denounced what she called "activist judges" who were attempting to impose their views "against the will of the people".

Another GOP Congressman called Massachusetts where same-sex marriage is legal "a rogue state".

http://www.365gay.com/newscon04/09/093004marrVote.htm

[AntiFascist]

1. By the amount of time Congress has been spending on this issue.....

it demonstrates what a failure Bush's trifecta has been.

[terrya]

2. Thank you for posting this, freetobegay. It would be interesting to see...

If Ed Schrock and David Drier voted for it.

[yorgatron]

3. they don't really WANT to win that battle

that way they can cling to their victim hood "oh poor us,beset by homosexuals on all sides.woe,woe is me" :cry:

[w4rma]

39. yes they do want to win it. They can always spin up a new victimhood. (nt)

[Davis_X_Machina]

4. Tomorrow's forecast...

...the sun will not rise.

Scattered brimstone in the morning, and heavier fire in the afternoon.
Huge cracks will appear in the surface of the earth.
There is a 40% chance of the Great Lakes being changed to blood.

A pillar-of-salt advisory has been issued for the Bay area, and portions of metropolitan (heh-heh) New York.

[aquart]

9. Leave New York alone.

We gave at the office.

[JetCityLiberal]

5. Here is how they voted

http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2004/roll484.xml

very glad this failed.

typical 21st century gop bigotry.

JetCityLiberal

[VegasWolf]

8. Drier voted NO. Amazing what a little sunlight will do!

[NewJerseyDem]

11. He has said he will vote no for months

His no vote is hardly a suprise.

[jdj]

15. Wow.

I guess he doesn't know what to do since starring on blogactive.com for the last couple weeks.

[5thGenDemocrat]

24. My congressman, Dale Kildee (D - MI 5th District)

Voted "no." Have to admit I had to check.
John
Dale's a good guy -- he's more a UAW/Union Dem than a liberal one, per se, but at least he's nobody's DINO. Add the fact that our senators are Levin and Stabenow, and life is good in the Saginaw Valley.

[JohnKleeb]

26. eh sounds like a new deal dem

Those are the kind that made me a democrat. Really Kildee is a kind of rep I'd like to have.

[5thGenDemocrat]

41. He succeeded Jim Barcia (a DINO I couldn't stand)

They have consecutively provided the Fifth District with the two worst toupees in the history of the Congress. But, like I said, at least Dale is a REAL Dem.
John
And he'll carry this district with at least 75 percent of the vote. Easy.

[JohnKleeb]

48. I heard about that

Kildee represents Moore's hometown of Flint. Really, ironically enough I think this is the kind of democrat my brother is, he ironically has some relatively socially conservative stances, like he's pro life, don't like it but he doesnt mock death row immates, he's no hawk, and is for helping people in general.

[llmart]

47. Just checked on my congresswoman.....

that fat Candice Miller, and of course she voted with the Repuke masses. She needs to go.

[David Zephyr]

35. Drier's Now Exposed Homosexuality Finally Has Him in a Box

Since the 1980's this little "secret" of Drier's never stopped him from voting against AIDS funding, against hate crime legislation, against equal employment and housing rights for gay and lesbian citizens and against gay unions.

His pitiful "queer" vote today wins him no favor with gays and lesbians. He'd begun signaling recently that he would vote the way he did today, but it ONLY comes because the pussy cat is out of the bag and he would only look more hypocritical than he already does now.

Drier is in full damage control now.

[countmyvote4real]

40. And he doesn't seem to be an A list commentator lately.

Crawling back under the rock or GOP shunning?

[JohnKleeb]

27. No surprise, my congressman voted for it

[demokatgurrl]

6. I can't believe they are STILL screwing around with this!!

All the REAL problems in this country and they're still busy in people's bedrooms. It's really distressing.

[NewJerseyDem]

7. Link to roll call

Democrats voting yes:

Marion Berry (AR)
Sanford Bishop (GA)
Rick Boucher (VA)
Allen Boyd (FL)
Brad Carson (OK)
Ben Chandler (KY)
Jim Cooper (TN)
Jerry Costello (IL)
Bud Cramer (AL)
Artur Davis (AL)
Lincoln Davis (TN)
Chet Edwards (TX)
Bob Etheridge (NC)
Harold Ford, Jr. (TN)
Bart Gordon (TN)
Stephanie Herseth (SD)
Tim Holden (PA)
William Jefferson (LA)
Chris John (LA)
Nick Lampson (TX)
Ken Lucas (KY)
Jim Marshall (GA)
Jim Matheson (UT)
Mike McIntyre (NC)
Solomon Ortiz (TX)
Colin Peterson (MN)
Nick Rahall (WV)
Mike Ross (AR)
Max Sandlin (TX)
David Scott (GA)
Ike Skelton (MO)
John Spratt (SC)
Charlie Stenholm (TX)
John Tanner (TN)
Gene Taylor (MS)
Bennie Thompson (MS)

Republicans voting no:
Charlie Bass (NH)
Judy Biggert (IL)
Mary Bono (CA)
Mike Castle (DE)
Chris Cox (CA)
David Dreier (CA)
Mark Foley (FL)
Rodney Frelinghuysen (NJ)
Jim Gerlach (PA)
Jim Gibbons (NV)
Wayne Gilchrest (MD)
Jim Greenwood (PA)
David Hobson (OH)
John Hostettler (IN)
Amo Houghton (NY)
Nancy Johnson (CT)
Mark Kirk (IL)
Joe Knollenberg (MI)
Jim Kolbe (AZ)
Jim Leach (IA)
Scott McInnis (CO)
Doug Ose (CA)
Ron Paul (TX)
Deborah Pryce (OH)
Christopher Shays (CT)
Rob Simmons (CT)
John Sweeney (NY)

[Waverley_Hills_Hiker]

10. Interesting to see David Hobson of Ohio voting against the amend.

He has been sort of the old school moderate Ohio republican. His district is very reliably GOP.

[NewJerseyDem]

14. Yeah, that was surprising

Joe Knollenberg of Michigan seems to be similar to Hobson in that way. I was surprised by both no votes. The most suprising yes vote was Sue Kelly's. I thought she more of a moderate Republican than that.

[KDLarsen]

45. Perhaps that's why he voted no

I mean, old school GOP's should be the last to legislate about peoples private lives. At least, that's how I understand it.

[candy331]

12. Harold Ford Jr from Tennessee voted yes, anything to keep the

repubs happy, hah Harold.

[Ranec]

13. Don't let this bother you,

If democrats have to vote for this to avoid attacks that is fine by me.As long as it doesn't pass.

It would be nice if there was one vote in the House about substantive policy.

I know, I live in a dream world.

[jdj]

17. Yes, I"m sick of these "resolution declaring rain a good thing" type

pieces of legislation, it's embarrassing.

[Djinn]

42. I'm a bit of a purist

I'd rather they voted for either what they beleived in or what their constituents beleived in - voting based on how well it'll go down with the pundits is piss poor

[foo_bar]

46. I remember McInnis from the "fruitcake" episode

with Pete Stark. He looks like a South Park creation:
http://www.house.gov/mcinnis/photos/

[ismnotwasm]

16. I saw this horrible bumber sticker today

In large red letters it said Marriage = than the man + women symbols commonly used to identify which public toilet to use. Cracked me up. I mean how stupid can you be? I'm very glad this failed, and look forward to the day any couple who wants to marry can, and noone will give a second thought. Hope it's in my lifetime!

[clydefrand]

23. Are you very young?

It will take many, many years to convince repugs and some Dems that government should stay out of our personal lives.

[Squeegee]

37. Someone here has a similar pic in their sig

... of two men together equating to a man and a tortoise. hehehe

[sexysenior]

18. My son spoke

He is a congressman from NY and his answer to those that wanted this amendment to "keep the children safe", was that he wanted his children safe from nuclear disasters, from Osama Bin Laden, etc. Said he would be going home this evening from DC and was pretty sure his kids (my granddaughters) wouldn't have to worry about being kept safe from same sex marriage.

[tnlefty]

20. Welcome!!! and good for your son. Could you ask him to speak with

Ford, Jr. and Bart Gordon?

[AlCzervik]

19. Is Musgrave up for re-election this year

and if so will she be beaten?

[NewJerseyDem]

25. All House members are up on even years

She is a pretty safe bet for reelection in her conservative district. She only got 55% of the vote in 2002 but she is facing the same opponent so she is certainly the very heavy favorite.

[ropi]

30. i wish someone would vote her out

she's such a nasty little person. i wonder what she's hiding.

[krkaufman]

21. Massachusetts "a rogue state"

I love how "states rights" only applies in relation to winger ideology.

[area51]

36. "rogue state"

Yeah, I "loved" the part about MA being a rogue state ... what are the nazis planning to do; telegraphing their intent to bomb the state of MA?

[rawstory]

22. HEADS UP -- New SCHROCK tapes coming out...

After closeted Rep. (Schrock) votes for marriage amendment, activist says he'll post more gay phone sex tapes... Developing... (the guy who quit after it came out he left messages on a gay sex phone line:

ALSO: update on Dreier: ANTI-GAY CONGRESSMAN SAID GAY VISITED AT LEAST 25 COUNTRIES IN LAST THREE YEARS WITH ALLEGED STAFF PARTNER USING TAXPAYER FUNDS ... (Dreier, actually, voted against the FMA -- good for him!)

http://rawstory.com

Check it out.

[hippiechick]

28. What about 'activist senators trying to impose their views...

...against the will of the people', Senator Musgrave, you hypocritical bitch ???

I am SO GLAD it was defeated :)




:hippie:

[ropi]

31. oh hippie

excellent point... please write her and tell her this. she needs a good bee in her bonnet.

[sweetheart]

29. EXCELLENT! What great news.

It was defeated. We've won a battle! War is one battle at a time.
Bush is defeated on this day of his debate... a totally excellent omen.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

32. Aw shit

Now Tom Delay's gonna start hanging out in public men's rooms. Clearly he felt homosexuality threatened his marraige.

[Lugnut]

33. Good.

Good riddance to an incredibly stupid waste of time. I fail to see any sort of threat to anybody when two adults who love each other want to marry.

[Ezlivin]

34. That's mighty queer

I thought that the Republicans had a stiff lead.

[Squeegee]

38. I guess I don't have to move to the Netherlands

... or Canada after all. :D

[Swamp Rat]

43. Marilyn Musgrave is going to Hell!

Pox on your house Marilyn Musgrave!

[Lexingtonian]

44. hmmm, Jim McCrery

votes 'yea' and thinks he's not going to get outed for it.

Ah yes, Massachusetts as a 'rogue state'. To which we Bay Staters reply: Glad to be of service! Take a number- we've been called worse by the Puritan theocracy, the British monarchy, the South Carolina slaveholder state government, Richard Nixon, and Ronald Reagan. Oh yes- we won every time, and we're doing so again....

"When you're right you can never be too radical, when you're wrong you can never be too conservative."- MLK, Letter from the Birmingham Jail