The Wisconsin state Assembly passed a resolution Friday adopting an amendment to the state constitution defining marriage as the exclusive union of a man and woman.
After hours of debate, lasting from 8 p.m. Thursday evening until 9 a.m. Friday morning, Assembly members voted 68 to 27 in support of the proposal to outlaw gay marriage.
Although only a majority was required for passage, the huge bi-partisan majority of representatives voting in favor of the resolution signals the amendment will also probably pass unhindered through the state Senate later this week.
Senate Minority Leader Jon Erpenbach, D-Middleton, indicated he thought the measure would be adopted by the Senate, according to the Wisconsin State Journal.
A minority of Democrats filibustered the resolution throughout the night Thursday, calling it an attack on civil rights and a tool by Republicans for re-election in the fall. By morning, however, it became clear a large majority of representatives of both parties supported defining marriage as a solely heterosexual institution.
“I am supporting this resolution today because I believe marriage is one man and one woman,” Assembly Speaker John Gard, R-Peshtigo, said in a press release. “I also believe the voters can be trusted to make the right decision about this issue. I also believe the voters should have the right to make this decision.”
The amendment must pass both houses of the state legislature by a simple majority in two consecutive sessions to become law. It must then be approved by public referendum.
According to a recent Badger Poll, while 29 percent of Wisconsinites are against a constitutional amendment, a full 64 percent of residents support a constitutional amendment defining marriage as being between a man and a woman.
Some opponents to the amendment cite the legislature’s attention to the issue of gay marriage as a right-wing attempt to distract the public from a fumbling economy and job losses.
“It’s another decisive ploy by the Republicans to distract the public from the job problem we are having now,” Mike Pfohl, chair of College Democrats of Wisconsin, said. “They can’t run on the issues that matter so they are trying to run on fear and these decisive issues.”
Pfohl added that the amendment threatens the rights of same-sex couples, labeling it an “anti-gay bill.”
“This is a huge gay-bashing bill. We need to call it what it is. It’s taking away the rights of homosexual couples,” Pfohl said.
However, those in support of the measure claim government officials must step in to make the definition of marriage clear in a nation where the meaning of marriage is increasingly unclear.
“I think that the way our nation is heading, there has to be guidelines because everyone seems to want to things defined clearly and the government is going to have to take time out to do things like this,” Denell Woller, head of the University of Wisconsin Catholic Student Union, said.
