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Loading ...Anti-gay amendment advances in Wyoming
02.05.2009 8:45am EST
(Cheyenne, Wyoming) Legislation to amend the Wyoming constitution to ban same-sex marriage has passed a key legislative committee.
The House Judiciary Committee voted 5 to 4 to send the joint resolution to the full House for debate.The proposed amendment would define marriage as a union between a man and a woman and would block the state recognizing same-sex marriages performed in other states or countries where they are legal.
The measure would need a two-thirds vote in each house of the legislature and then be signed by the governor in order to make it onto the ballot.
Most Democrats have said they would vote against the measure. The legislature’s winter session will last only two months and with a worsening economic picture for the state, some observers say they believe the amendment may not make it to a vote.
“At the end of the day, I can’t allow a discrimination clause to have a chance to get in our state constitution,” said Rep. Joseph Barbuto (D).
A similar proposed amendment passed the Senate two years ago but died in the House.
Wyoming already has a law limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples but state Sen. Curt Meier (R), the amendment’s main sponsor, said the law is not sufficient.
The national conservative Focus on the Family Action recently began a telephone lobbying campaign in support of a gay-marriage ban.
The Colorado Springs, Colorado-based group has been targeting voters in what it sees as swing districts where it believes it can exert pressure on lawmakers.
Lobbying by out-of-state groups was cited as a key factor in the passing of a measure prohibiting gay marriage in California in November.
hmmm I guess alls well in Wy? Great jobs, No-one losing thier jobs…no poverty…everyone has health care….cause this is what they find important to legislate? Just another reason for me to NEVER go there!
From the state that brought you the murder of Matthew Shephard… more intolerance. Will these sad people never learn that hatred only begets hatred?
Obviously the people of Wyoming have yet to figure out that “The Laramie Project” is not a comedy.
Disgusted American Said: February 5th, 2009 at 9:50 am
hmmm I guess alls well in Wy? Great jobs, No-one losing thier jobs…no poverty…everyone has health care….cause this is what they find important to legislate? Just another reason for me to NEVER go there!
I could not agree with you more. FOF has had to lay off 20% of their staff, because some people are now having to do with their money what it’s suppose to do, feed them and pay their bills, not give it away to these HATE groups.
If there is ever a blue sky in this economic down turn, it has to be less money to these EVIL HATE organizations.
How any legislator could vote for this and look anyone in the eye is beyond me.
WY. is this country’s capitol for one of the saddest stories ever told in America.
Just think of it, it’s folks like FOF (James Dopson and his elk) that are in part just as responsible as those who committed this hateful grotesque crime against a beautiful young American boy.
If there is a God,… there has to be a special place in hell for these people.
Well, at least this is how it should be done. Go to the legislature and have to pass a 2/3 vote. Not this voter initiative crap where all it takes is a petition.
Yeah… well, why NOT? From the bright minds that brought us DICK CHENEY, to the gatekeepers of morality that exterminated the menacing Matthew Shepard, WHERE WOULD THIS COUNTRY BE without the lighthouse that IS the Mensa state of Wyoming?
I see they learned nothing from the Matthew Shepard’s death. Hate and intollerance are still much alive in Wyoming.
Wyoming: where the men are men and the sheep can hear a zipper a mile away!
My son just informed me that Wyoming is supposed to be “The Equality State”. This made me chuckle.
It doesn’t surprise me that it is going through becuase the word doesn’t get out here until its to late. The gay community, if you can even call it that doesn’t keep people informed as to whats going on. I would agree with people that said Wyoming has not learned its lesson with Mathew Shepred situation. If ever state in the Union was to pass same-sex marriage laws…Wyoming will be the very last about 20 to 30 years behind, so don’t expect anything soon in Wyoming…just keep watchin it go down the toliet.