Gay marriage ban defeated in Senate vote

18 votes shy
The tally Wednesday put the ban 18 votes short of the 67 needed for the Senate to approve a constitutional amendment.

Republicans had hoped for a better showing given their four-seat gain in the Senate after the 2004 election, with supporters predicting more than 50 votes in favor of sending the measure for an up-or-down vote, called cloture.

Asked whether Bush could have done more than voicing his support for the measure in recent days, Brownback replied, “He could have done more, but he doesn’t have a vote in this one.”

Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., acknowledged supporters of the amendment never were sure how the votes would fall Wednesday.

“We have never really, I don’t think, got a real hard grip on the cloture vote,” Allard told reporters. “Since the last election we had, we figured we would know where everybody was.”

Backers won't back down
But the defeat is by no means the amendment’s last stand, said its supporters.

“I do not believe the sponsors are going to fall back and cry about it,” said Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah. “I think they are going to keep bringing it up.”

The House plans a redux next month, said Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio.

“This is an issue that is of significant importance to many Americans,” Boehner told reporters. “We have significant numbers of our members who want a vote on this, so we are going to have a vote.”

The defeat came despite daily appeals for passage from Bush, whose standing is troubled by sagging poll numbers and a dissatisfied conservative base.

‘Writing bigotry into the Constitution’
Democrats said the debate was a divisive political ploy. “The Republican leadership is asking us to spend time writing bigotry into the Constitution,” said Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, which legalized gay marriage in 2003.

“A vote for it is a vote against civil unions, against domestic partnership, against all other efforts for states to treat gays and lesbians fairly under the law.”

In response, Hatch fumed: “Does he really want to suggest that over half of the United States Senate is a crew of bigots?”

Forty-five of the 50 states have acted to define traditional marriage in ways that would ban same-sex marriage — 19 with constitutional amendments and 26 with statutes.

The amendment would prohibit states from recognizing same-sex marriages. To become ratified, it would need two-thirds support in the Senate and House, and then would have to be ratified by at least 38 state legislatures.

Ben Nelson of Nebraska, the only Democratic senator who supports the amendment, voted “yes.” The only other Democrat to vote in favor of moving forward with an up-or-down vote Wednesday, Robert Byrd of West Virginia, opposes the amendment itself.

Three senators did not vote: Democrats Christopher Dodd of Connecticut and John Rockefeller of West Virginia, and Republican Chuck Hagel of Nebraska.

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