Supporters of a
proposed state constitutional amendment banning same-sex
marriage in Idaho are giving the issue another try this
year, with a new conservative group called the Idaho
Values Alliance leading the charge.
"The signal that we've gotten from legislative
leadership on the house and senate side is they'd like
to see an amendment go forward," said Bryan Fischer,
executive director of the Boise-based group.
Fischer, who served as state senate chaplain in
2001, held a news conference Sunday in the Idaho
statehouse to introduce his group and its mission.
Religious liberties are threatened in Idaho, Fischer said,
citing the 2004 Boise city council decision to remove a Ten
Commandments monument from a city park after 40 years
as well as court decisions concerning prayer in
public schools.
Legislative attempts to pass a constitutional
amendment banning same-sex marriage have failed the
past two years. A constitutional amendment must pass
the house and senate by at least a two-thirds majority and
win approval from the governor before being placed on
the general election ballot.
Last year the Idaho senate blocked a measure
that would require the state to recognize only
marriages between one man and one woman. That measure
also would have banned civil unions, which grant gay couples
the legal rights and benefits of marriage.
Idaho already has a 1997 law banning same-sex
marriage, but Fischer and other supporters say the
amendment is needed too. He noted that in Washington
State, the state supreme court is considering a challenge of
Washington's 1998 ban on same-sex marriage. "Because
Washington State does not have a constitution that
protects marriage, the state supreme court there may
well issue a ruling any day now that would provide for
gay marriage," Fischer said.
House speaker Bruce Newcomb, a Republican from
Burley, recently expressed support for such an
amendment, saying his constituents want it.
Other groups oppose an amendment as unnecessary.
"Why would we amend the constitution to limit the
rights and freedoms of anybody?" said Andrea Shipley,
a spokeswoman for a Boise group called Your Family,
Friends, and Neighbors. "I think most people in Idaho have
their own private ceremonies, and some may be
church-sponsored, and some not," she said. (AP)