PA Senate tacks gay marraige ban to constitution

To my disgust and horror, the state Senate approved the proposed state constitutional amendment to ban gay marriages 38-12 on Wednrsday. At least they rejected the House language that would have prevented civil unions and potentially other types of relationships for unmarried couples, which had passed the House (HB 2381) on June 6. According to The Center for Lesbian and Gay Civil Rights, the effort to revert to the original version of the amendment passed by the House was defeated in the Senate by a 31-19 vote. A motion to further amend the language to prevent same-sex marriages, civil unions or legal unions that are the "functional equivalent of marriage" was then defeated 27-23. The Senate then removed the language from the House bill that also stated that "neither the Commonwealth nor any of its political subdivisions shall create or recognize a legal union identical or substantially equivalent to that of marriage for unmarried individuals," and it passed then.

The new version of the bill now goes back to the House for approval before it recesses for the summer. The House must approve the language by June 30 in order to be placed on the ballot as soon as 2007. If the House does not approve this version of the legislation, it cannot go to the voters until 2009 at the earliest.

Time to send some negative light to the State Crapitol and hope that both State and House will end up fighting over the language of the bill and not agreeing on which version to use, causing the amendment to die and diginity of gay people of this state will be spared. Or if you live PA, just contact your state representative and tell him or her to say NO! to HB 2381 in any form.