.- The Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday approved a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. The 10-8 vote happened along party lines. The amendment now goes to the full Senate, where a vote is expected June 5.
"This Amendment will permit the American people an opportunity to rein in activist judges who have stripped the right of voters to protect marriage," said Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, in a statement.
Perkins pointed out, however, that the threat to traditional marriage still exists. A federal judge recently declared Nebraska's state amendment preserving marriage as being between one man and one woman unconstitutional, even though it had popular support.
Perkins urged the U.S. Senate to approve the Marriage Protection Amendment. Constitutional amendments require a two-thirds approval in the U.S. House and Senate, plus ratification by three quarters of the nation's state legislatures.
