DOMANIA: Georgia

A day after President Bush said the U.S. "must defend the sanctity of marriage," Republican leaders in the state Senate introduced a resolution Wednesday that would ban gay marriages in Georgia.

The resolution calls for a constitutional amendment that would define marriage only as a union between a man and a woman.
Current state law already does so. But saying they fear judges could redefine marriage without the consent of politicians, Senate Republicans said they want the state's constitution to carry the same language.
"For thousands of years, the institution of marriage has been between a man and a woman," said Senate Republican Leader Bill Stephens, of Canton, one of the resolution's sponsors. "It begins to tear at the foundations of our institutions if it's anything other than that."

If approved by the General Assembly, the proposed amendment would appear on ballots during November's General Election. Gay rights groups immediately decried the resolution, calling it an anti-gay attempt to pander to voters in an election year. "The purpose of amendments is to create protections for the citizens of Georgia, not to write discrimination into the constitution," said Allen Thornell, executive director of Georgia Equality, the state's largest gay and lesbian advocacy group. "Individual rights are not based upon
just what the majority at one point in time feels, but are based on principles higher than that."

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posted by Eve at 6:55 AM VOTE

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