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WASHINGTON – Wisconsin’s
First District Congressman Paul Ryan today voted in favor of a Constitutional
amendment maintaining that marriage in the United States consists solely of the
union of a man and a woman. A majority of the House of Representatives voted
in favor of the amendment (227-186), although it did not achieve the necessary
2/3 vote required under the amendment process. “I believe that marriage should remain between a man and
a woman, and I have heard from many of the people I represent who are concerned
about activist judges abusing their power and rewriting our society’s
definition of marriage,” Ryan said. “I
had hoped that this amendment wouldn’t be necessary, but increasingly it
appears that laws such as the Defense of Marriage Act will not be sufficient to
protect marriage from certain courts that distort state and federal
constitutional law.” “Marriage is not simply a legal arrangement between
individuals. The institution of
marriage is an integral part of our civil society and its significance goes well
beyond eligibility for benefits and similar considerations.
Its future should not be left to a few overreaching judges or local
officials to decide,” Ryan said. “That’s
why I support this effort to amend our Constitution to protect marriage.” In addition to clearly defining marriage as the union of a
man and a woman, the federal marriage amendment would leave the matter of the
creation of civil unions, domestic partnerships and other nonmarital
arrangements to the state legislatures to determine. In order to become part of the U.S. Constitution, this amendment must gain approval through one of the following two routes:
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