Marriage Protection Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is indefensible
May 30, 2006
"The so-called 'Marriage Protection Amendment' to the U.S. Constitution is indefensible, and flies in the face of the religious and personal freedoms embodied in that great document," Jean Hay Bright, Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, said in a statement today.

The proposed amendment, H. J. RES. 106, which may come before the Senate next week, states:
'Marriage in the United States shall consist solely of the union of a man and a woman. Neither this 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.'

In urging Maine's two U.S. Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins to vote against this bill, Hay Bright said "Our Founding Fathers were wise in recognizing the conflicts that can arise when religion is dictated by a government. This amendment is an attempt to codify a controversial religious belief, which, as a separate bill, would be considered blatantly unconstitutional."