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Loading ...Wyoming anti-gay bill dies
02.09.2009 12:57pm EST
(Cheyenne, Wyoming) Legislation to amend the Wyoming constitution to ban same-sex marriage has been defeated in the state legislature.
The House voted 35-25 against it, despite massive lobbying by socially conservative groups. The vote ensures the measure will not appear on the ballot in 2010.The proposed amendment would have defined 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 needed a two-thirds vote in each house of the legislature and to then be signed by the governor in order to make it onto the ballot.
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. Meier said the law could be overturned by the courts. A constitutional amendment would block that.
The measure’s House sponsor, Rep. Owen Petersen (R) made an impassioned speech during debate.
“It’s my opinion that voters should be allowed to express their opinion on this social issue, and not leave the matter to the courts or some other source,” he said.
But not all GOP members spoke in favor of the amendment. Rep. Pat Childers (R) said he has a lesbian daughter in a committed relationship.
“Folks, till my dying breath there isn’t anybody in this country who could say that she is a terrible person, or someone that needs to have their rights restricted,” Childers told the House.
Rep. Sue Wallis (R) called the amendment “state-sponsored bigotry.”
The national conservative group Focus on the Family Action mounted a telephone lobbying campaign throughout Wyoming in support of the gay-marriage ban.
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.
Whoda thunk it?
Perhaps “good sense” is more rampant in Wyoming than one has been led to believe. Perhaps it is true that “cowboys are sometimes overly fond of each other”.
Wow…. LGBT speaking, I didn’t think Wyoming could impress me. It’s a good Monday.
Looks like Matthew Shepard’s torture and murder changed some minds in Wyoming in the last 11 years. Thank God some good has come of it.
i have e-mailed to remind WY’s antigay legislators that Matthew’s murder comes to mind for millions for gay Americans and their allies everytime Wyoming is mentioned.
And that a constitutional amendment on top of Matthew horrific and world-fammous murder would be another “black eye” against WY’s image.
Looks like some of the more fair-minded WY legislators are “standing up” for what is right and calling this amendment “bigotry” same we gays do and saying “NO” to this travesty and injustice.
yah wowee zowee indeed! Now that the conniving, politically motivated legislature is off the civil rights hook the religious whackos can now move in and circulate their little petitions and just have the majority of breeders vote away our civil rights. Wyoming Legislature simply shrugs its collective shoulder and sighs “Ah well, at least we tried. right folks? we can’t go against the will of the electorate now can we?”. Bigotted business as usual folks. YAAAAAAAWN.