Congressman to Introduce Antimarriage Constitutional Amendment

Tim Huelskamp says he'll respond to yesterday's Supreme Court rulings by trying to amend the U.S. Constitution to block marriage equality.

Trudy Ring

Trudy Ring is The Advocate’s senior politics editor and copy chief. She has been a reporter and editor for daily newspapers and LGBTQ+ weeklies/monthlies, trade magazines, and reference books. She is a political junkie who thinks even the wonkiest details are fascinating, and she always loves to see political candidates who are groundbreaking in some way. She enjoys writing about other topics as well, including religion (she’s interested in what people believe and why), literature, theater, and film. Trudy is a proud “old movie weirdo” and loves the Hollywood films of the 1930s and ’40s above all others. Other interests include classic rock music (Bruce Springsteen rules!) and history. Oh, and she was a Jeopardy! contestant back in 1998 and won two games. Not up there with Amy Schneider, but Trudy still takes pride in this achievement.

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Trudy Ring

June 27 2013 1:44 PM EST

November 17 2015 5:28 AM EST

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Conservative Republican congressman Tim Huelskamp is responding to the Supreme Court's pro-marriage equality rulings by reviving an effort to amend the U.S. Constitution to ban same-sex marriage.

"This would trump the Supreme Court," Huelskamp, a Tea Party favorite from Kansas, told The Huffington Post.

He said he plans to introduce the constitutional amendment, which if adopted would prevent any state from establishing marriage equality, this week. It would be similar to previous versions considered by Congress.

None of those previous versions has succeeded, however. To become law, a constitutional amendment needs to be approved by a two-thirds majority in both the House and Senate and then ratified by three quarters of the states. In 2006, the last time the House voted on the measure, it received 236 yes votes, short of the 290 needed to pass.

Of yesterday's rulings on the Defense of Marriage Act and Proposition 8, he said, "What did not happen is what the court and then the folks pushing for [DOMA repeal] hoped would happen: that it would end the debate. The debate is not over."