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No Federal Anti-Gay Amendment
Tell your federal elected leaders to keep discrimination out of the
US Constitution
In 2004, Human Rights Campaign and other state and national LGBT and civil rights groups joined together to defeat the Federal Marriage Amendment (FMA). Millions of fair-minded Americans like you spoke out in defense of equality, and the discriminatory amendment was defeated. But now it's back again - under the misleading title "Marriage Protection Amendment" - and we need your help to stop it!
After a request from notoriously anti-gay Senator Rick Santorum, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist announced his intention to force a vote on the so-called Marriage Protection Amendment during the week of June 5. While the measre failed in the US Senate, there is now concern that the measure will be brought up in the House.
The proposed amendment would ban marriage for same-sex couples, and threaten domestic partnerships and civil unions for all gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) Americans. Your elected leaders need to hear from you today!
A huge thank you goes out to the HRC for providing us with material for this campaign.
| Sample Letter for Campaign |
Subject: Keep discrimination out of our Constitution
Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,
I hope you'll agree with me that the federal government has no right to limit who may marry.
States have always been able to decide who may marry subject only to the PROTECTIONS afforded by state and federal constitutions. I ask you to preserve the right of states, and oppose any attempt to write discrimination into the US Constitution.
While I personally support marriage equality for same-sex couples, I hope you will help all voters understand that amending the constitution of the United States to limit who may marry threatens everyone.
Sincerely,
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Campaign Launched:
May 04, 2006
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Tell Congress Not To Write Discrimination into the Constitution
The Federal Marriage Amendment (FMA) is a proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution. If passed, it would make marriage for same-sex couples illegal everywhere in the U.S., no matter what individual states want to do. It will also ban other forms of partnership recognition, such as civil unions and domestic partnerships.
If this amendment passes:
* Discrimination against same-sex couples will be enshrined for generations
* We will lose the potential for civil unions, domestic partnerships, even partner insurance benefits
* The right-wing extremists will learn they can get away with demonizing us -- and they'll find new ways to hold us back
Whay does marriage matter? Read on...
Marriage Rights and Protections Denied Same-Sex Partners
Because same-sex couples are denied the right to marry, same-sex couples and their families are denied access to the more than 1,138 federal rights, protections and responsibilities automatically granted to married heterosexual couples. Among those are:
- The right to make decisions on a partner's behalf in a medical emergency. Specifically, the states generally provide that spouses automatically assume this right in an emergency. If an individual is unmarried, the legal "next of kin" automatically assumes this right. This means, for example, that a gay man with a life partner of many years may be forced to accept the financial and medical decisions of a sibling or parent with whom he may have a distant or even hostile relationship.
- The right to take up to 12 weeks of leave from work to care for a seriously ill partner or parent of a partner. The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 permits individuals to take such leave to care for ill spouses, children and parents but not a partner or a partner's parents.
- The right to petition for same-sex partners to immigrate.
- The right to assume parenting rights and responsibilities when children are brought into a family through birth, adoption, surrogacy or other means. For example, in most states, there is no law providing a noncustodial, nonbiological or nonadoptive parent's right to visit a child - or responsibility to provide financial support for that child - in the event of a breakup.
- The right to share equitably all jointly held property and debt in the event of a breakup, since there are no laws that cover the dissolution of domestic partnerships.
- Family-related Social security benefits, income and estate tax benefits, disability benefits, family-related military and veterans benefits and other important benefits.
- The right to inherit property from a partner in the absence of a will.
Such inequities impose added costs on these families, such as increased health insurance premiums, higher tax burdens and the absence of pension benefits or Social Security benefits in the event of a partner's death.
Some same-sex and transgender families consult attorneys to draw up legal documents such as powers of attorney, co-parenting agreements and wills, that will at least permit them to declare who they wish to make health care and financial decisions for them if they become incapacitated; how they wish to share parenting responsibilities or, in the event of a breakup, custody of a child; and what they want to happen to their property when they die. However, these are not a substitute for legal protection under law and cannot provide the broad range of benefits and protections provided by law.
A huge thank you goes out to the HRC and to The Task Force for providing information for this page.
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