National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Action Alert; Federal Marriage Amendment Senate Debate Started Today
MEDIA CONTACT:
Task Force Communications Department
Sheri A. Lunn, Director of Communications
media@thetaskforce.org
323-857-8751
Task Force friends:


Over the coming days, the United States Senate is scheduled to debate the "Federal Marriage Amendment" that would, for the first time in history, amend the constitution of the United States to explicitly discriminate against a minority by forever prohibiting the recognition of same sex marriage (and, as it's now written, other forms of partner recognition as well).

With the Democratic minority holding firm to its pledge to kill the measure and a handful of the Senate's 51 Republicans expressing doubts about its need, even Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) has been forced to admit the votes aren't there to pass the amendment as written - and probably not enough to end debate and force a vote on the amendment itself. (Just over two weeks ago, Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said he thought a majority of Senators would end up voting against the amendment.)

The media have accurately diagnosed the real purpose behind this particularly ugly and wasteful charade: to try to put John Kerry and the Democratic Party on the spot right before the Democratic National Convention.

In desperation, the right wing has gone into hyperdrive, hoping to generate thousands of telephone calls to Senators today and over the weekend. As described in the article below, the head of Focus on the Family, James Dobson, is asking supporters to "call until the switchboard smokes."

We need to do the same to be sure there's no wavering on our side. So, please, take a couple of minutes and contact your U.S. Senator. (In the article below, you'll find the names of those Senators who are either undecided or opposed to this discriminatory amendment.)

Don't know the contact info for your two Senators? Log on to http://www.senate.gov to quickly find out. And then call. And remember, Equality Begins at Home so ask your friends and family to call as well.