ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, July 13, 1996 TAG: 9607150064
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: Associated Press
NOTE: Below
After two noisy days of Bible quotes and gay-baiting charges, the House voted overwhelmingly Friday to define marriage in federal law as a legal union of one man and one woman - no matter what states may say.
The measure, approved 342-67, would underline federal refusal to recognize same-sex marriages, keeping gay couples ineligible for spousal benefits under Social Security, Medicare or other programs.
Though the vote was lopsided, it came only after a bitter debate in which the Republican sponsor spoke of ``the very foundation of our society being at risk'' while some Democrats accused the GOP of stirring up a divisive issue to help presidential hopeful Bob Dole's campaign.
All of Virginia's representatives voted for the measure, except Jim Moran, D-Alexandria, and Robert "Bobby" Scott, D-Newport News.
President Clinton will sign the bill if it should pass the Senate, although he, too, believes it was politically motivated, White House spokesman Mike McCurry said.
``I think, in fact, it is gay-baiting, pure and simple,'' he said.
``This will prevent or stop nothing, but it does effectively divide people in America,'' said Rep. Martin Meehan, D-Mass.
Republican supporters, on the other hand, said the measure was needed on both moral and legal grounds.
``The flames of hedonism, the flames of narcissism, the flames of self-centered morality are licking at the very foundations of our society, the family unit,'' said sponsor Rep. Bob Barr, R-Ga.
The federal government traditionally leaves regulation of marriage to the states, but supporters said the legislation was needed to head off the possible results of a gay-rights court case that could lead Hawaii to legalize gay marriage.
If that happens, the Constitution may require other states to recognize gay marriages performed in Hawaii, they said. Conservatives said a single panel of judges in Hawaii shouldn't be allowed to decide whether the whole country accepts same-sex marriages.
Under the bill, states would be free to legalize gay marriages within their own boundaries, but other states would have authority to refuse to honor them.
``The vote today reflects exactly what the people of this country feel, and that is America is not ready to change its definition of marriage, America is not ready to change the concept of marriage,'' Barr said.
During Friday's debate on the House floor, some members quoted passages from the Bible to support their contention that God meant marriage to be a union of a man and a woman. Anything else threatens the survival of American culture, they said.
But Rep. Barney Frank, R-Mass., one of Congress' three openly gay members, said many of his colleagues are in their second and third marriages despite other passages that prohibit divorce or remarriage after divorce.
The conservative Traditional Values Coalition applauded the vote.
``Even President Clinton, who has nodded to every demand from the radical homosexuals, has now left that camp and joined the mainstream of America in opposing homosexual marriage,'' said the Rev. Lou Sheldon, head of the group.
But the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest gay and lesbian political group, said the House had hit a ``new low.''
``The House committed an ugly, cowardly and unconstitutional act by passing this bill, and history will remember it as such,'' said Elizabeth Birch, the group's executive director.
Barr said he expected the Senate to pass an identical bill quickly.
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