By a vote of 236 to 187, the House rejected on July 18 a proposed constitutional amendment, HJ Res 88, to ban same-sex marriage, which will keep the conservatives temporarily at bay. Although House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Illinois) was not fazed, saying, “Be assured that this issue is not over.” The vote was short of the two-thirds majority neeeded to advance any Constitutional amendment, which is a slight improvement over the last time the House voted in 2004, when the result was 227 to 186 in favor of the amendment. That was 49 short of the needed majority. The Constitution has been amended only 27 times, including the 10 amendments of the Bill of Rights. In addition to two-thirds Congressional approval, a proposed amendment must be ratified by three-fourths of the states.

Proponents of HJ Res 88 said that it will be necessary for Congress to outdo the actions of so-called “activist judges” around the nation who have ruled in favor of same-sex marriages. Rep. Joe Pitts (R-Pennsylvania) stated, “We must not allow an institution of such great importance to be arbitrarily redefined for the entire nation by a small number of unelected judges.” Leader of the House conservatives, Rep. Mike Pence (R-Indiana), said the vote was a “successful failure” and added, “We poured a little more concrete in the footings of a building that will be built.”

Opponents of HJ Res 88, which includes 27 Republicans, said the whole thing was pointless, since the Senate had already rejected the amendment last month, thus killing it for this Congressional session. Advocates for gay marriage called the attempt mean-spirited. Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi called it a partisan effort by Republicans to divide the American citizens rather than “forge consensus to solve our urgent problems.”

Democrats called this just another attempt to keep Americans occupied with anything but the war in the Middle East and gas prices. Rep. Louise M. Slaughter (D-New York), ranking member of the House Rules Committee, that day spoke out against the divisive and diversionary agenda embraced by the Republican Majority in the House this week. “At a time of international crisis, Republicans have no answers,” Rep. Slaughter said, “and they are abusing their position in the House to pass meaningless legislation that won’t have any impact on the lives of the American people.” She said, “It doesn’t matter what the challenges this nation faces are. Republicans just go back to the same old playbook. Rising gas prices and a record national debt? Ban gay marriage. War erupting in Iraq and the broader Middle East? Protect the Pledge of Allegiance.”

Slaughter called it a failed Republican Congress, and that this week demonstrated their failure to lead America in the right direction. “If the American people want a Congress that responds to their concerns—about security, the economy, and global instability—with meaningful action, then we need a change of leadership in the House,” she commented. .

Rep. Barney Frank, D-Massachusetts) is one of just a few openly gay members in Congress. “I think this is motivated, frankly, by a dislike of those of us who are gay and lesbian,” said Frank. He said he protested “people taking batting practice with my life.”

Up till now, 45 states have either Constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriage or statutes outlawing gay weddings. Even in Massachusetts, which is so far the only remaining state that allows same-sex marriage, the state’s high court has ruled that a proposed Constitutional amendment to ban future same-sex marriages will be allowed on the ballot.

Bush has been bashing away, of course. He picked the day when the nation was mourning their lost loved ones and commemorating the 25th year of this horrible epidemic, to gather his faithful and assure them he would fight to save the “institution of marriage” and put an amendment in the Constitution to assure the “sanctity” of heterosexual-only marriages. The official White House statement was more than clear: “The administration believes that the future of marriage in America should be decided through the democratic Constitutional amendment process, rather than by the court orders of a few.” Members of the Family Research Council, a homophobic group pretending to be concerned for families exposed to “the homosexual agenda,” have vowed to issue voter scorecards to millions of voters before the November election.

The person who sponsored the amendment, Rep. Marilyn Musgrave (R-Colorado) stated, “The overwhelming majority of the American people support traditional marriage, and the people have a right to know whether their elected representatives agree with them.”

The amendment would state: “Marriage in the United States shall consist only of the union of a man and a woman. Neither the Constitution, nor the Constitution of any state, shall be construed to require that marriage or the legal incidents thereof be conferred upon any union other than the union of a man and a woman.”

Before the House vote took place, Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisconsin), Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese, and Reps. Barney Frank, Lois Capps (D-California), Joseph Crowley (D-New York), Rep. Barbara Lee (D-California), and Jerrold Nadler, (D-New York) had called on the House to reject discrimination and vote no when the Federal Marriage Amendment came up for a vote. They argued that the measure would, for the first time, amend the U.S. Constitution to single out a group of Americans for discrimination by denying marriage to same-sex couples. Following a press conference, a group of constituents also delivered 180,000 postcards to Congressional offices, asking legislators to vote no.

“Today, as Americans focus on the grave situation in the Middle East, record oil prices, and record federal debt, the leadership of the House continues to ignore the real challenges facing American families,” said Rep. Baldwin, “This effort to write discrimination into our Constitution is nothing more than a politically calculated distraction.” She added, “This proposal has previously been defeated in both the House and the Senate. Yet, in an effort to score political points, the Republican leadership insists on debating this Constitutional amendment which would harm many American families and further divide our nation.”

“This vote is a direct attack on gay and lesbian Americans and our families,” Solmonese had earlier stated. “Using the Constitution to treat same-sex couples as second-class citizens is wrong and inexcusable. We join Representative Baldwin and so many others in calling on the House to reject the politics of discrimination, division, and distraction and to get back to work on coming up with solutions to America’s challenges.”

To defeat the discriminatory amendment, the Human Rights Campaign has lobbied on Capitol Hill; mobilized its members; engaged the press; and worked with a large coalition of civil rights, religious, civil liberties, labor, and professional organizations advocating against the measure. The Human Rights Campaign organized the collection and distribution of more than 310,000 postcards to the Senate and House in opposition to the amendment.

“They have now failed twice in their shameful election-year ploys, using gay and lesbian families as punching bags,” said Solmonese after hearing the July 18 outcome. “We didn’t see any traction in the vote,” he said. Solmonese continued, “More and more Americans are beginning to understand that same-sex couples and their children deserve to be treated equally under our nation’s Constitution, nothing more and nothing less. Congress has defeated this discriminatory amendment on four separate occasions now, while the American people’s support for equality has continued to grow.” He said, “The message is clear: get to the work of protecting families, not threatening them with prejudice.”