7-18-06 U.S. Rep. Lynn Westmoreland today voted for the Marriage Protection Amendment, which would define marriage as a union between one man and one woman in the U.S. Constitution. The amendment fell short of the two-thirds majority needed for amendments, 236-187.
"The traditional family is the basis of the American life. The people of Georgia - and Americans in states across the nation - have voted to define marriage in their state constitutions only to be overruled by judges. In Massachusetts, the top state court went even further by creating a right to gay marriage," said Westmoreland. "I will continue to support the traditional definition of marriage."
In every state where this issue has been on the ballot in the form a marriage protection amendment to state constitutions, it has passed with strong support. In more than half of the 20 states that have amended their constitutions to protect marriage, the amendment has passed with 70 percent support or more.
The Marriage Protection Amendment had 131 bipartisan co-sponsors. The amendment would have changed the Constitution to state that marriage in the United States, and all of the benefits associated with it, would solely mean the union of man and woman. Earlier in the summer, a similar proposal failed on the Senate floor.
