West Virginia Gay-Marriage Ban Fails In House
- Empowering spirits Foundation Notes Feb 24th, 2010
Democrats in the House of Delegates on Tuesday swiftly shot down Republican attempts to advance a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage.
GOP delegates unsuccessfully tried to force a floor vote on a bipartisan resolution (HJR5) called the “Marriage Protection Amendment.” The proposal calls for a statewide referendum on whether to amend West Virginia’s constitution to define marriage as between one man and one woman.
This week, Republicans launched a push to make the House vote on measures they say Democrats have allowed to die in the legislative process. They want to do that by “discharging” bills from committees, bringing them directly to the floor for a vote.
Except for Delegate Tom Louisos, D-Fayette, the House’s Democratic majority on Tuesday voted to postpone consideration of the Republican motion to discharge the marriage amendment.
Later, the committee that controls the flow of bills decided to keep that motion off the House’s agenda.
House Minority Leader Tim Armstead, R-Kanawha, said the discharge attempts are about open debate on issues he says constituents want the Legislature to take up.
“Once again, through a procedural motion, [debate] has been blocked,” Armstead said after the House postponed his motion Tuesday.
In the coming days, Republican delegates plan to try to force floor votes on more bills, including one to require drug-testing of welfare recipients, Armstead said.
Republicans are off to a rocky start with the plan. On Monday, Delegate Patrick Lane, R-Kanawha, unsuccessfully tried to discharge a measure that would increase tax breaks for elderly and disabled people.
Republicans also tried to force a vote on the marriage amendment last year, but Democrats blocked the move.
Half of the six of sponsors of this year’s “Marriage Protection Amendment” are Democrats, but many Democrats likely do not want to vote on the controversial issue.
Sponsors of the measure include House Majority Leader Brent Boggs, D-Braxton. Boggs said he “cares very deeply” about the marriage legislation, but “at this point, it’s just a time management issue.”
“We’ve got jobs bills. We’ve got a number of important pieces of legislation,” he said. “And committee time is really at a premium right now.”
The legislative session is set to end March 13. As deadlines approach, the Republican discharge motions are becoming “disruptive,” Boggs said.
“This is not the time to be doing this,” he said. “There couldn’t possibly be a worse time.”
Those seeking a constitutional amendment on marriage haven’t give up hopes. The Family Policy Council of West Virginia is focusing on a Senate version of the resolution (SJR14). The group is planning a “Let Us Vote!” rally at the Capitol, set for noon on Thursday.
Stephen Skinner of the group Fairness West Virginia said he is hopeful the Senate won’t advance its version of a constitutional ban.
“The Senate leadership has been clear in the past that the marriage amendment would be redundant,” he said, referring to an existing law that bars West Virginia from recognizing same-sex marriages performed in other states. “I have every reason to expect the same results this year.”
Skinner said his group is “extremely pleased that [the House] avoided what is a divisive and distracting issue.”
