Politics of Discrimination and Distraction Fail as Senate Resoundingly Defeats Federal Mar

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 7, 2006

Brad Luna | Phone: 202/216.1514 | Cell: 202/812.8140
Jay Smith Brown | Phone: 202/216.1580 | Cell: 202/716.1650

"President Bush and the Republican leadership gambled their dwindling
political capital on a discriminatory amendment and came up empty,"
said
Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese. "With the addition of
Senators Specter and Gregg, not only did every senator who voted
against
discrimination in 2004 stand with us today but momentum is on the side
of equality."

WASHINGTON - The Senate voted 49 to 48 today to defeat the Federal
Marriage Amendment, a measure that would have denied marriage to
same-sex couples and seriously threatened civil unions and domestic
partnerships. Seven Republicans joined 41 Democrats in voting down the
measure, which opponents said was a politically motivated distraction
from real challenges facing the country.

"President Bush and the Republican leadership gambled their dwindling
political capital on a discriminatory amendment and came up empty,"
said
Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese. "With the addition of
Senators Specter and Gregg, not only did every senator who voted
against
discrimination in 2004 stand with us today but momentum is on the side
of equality. This is a resounding defeat against discrimination.

Solmonese continued, "For the House to now take up a bill that's dead
and twice failed would prove beyond a shadow of a doubt this is nothing
more than election-year posturing.

"The quarter of a million postcards we delivered on behalf of Human
Rights Campaign members made the strength of opposition known on
Capitol
Hill," added Solmonese. "Many thanks to these members for speaking out,
to our allies for working side-by-side with us in defeating this
measure, and, especially, to the Senators who saw through this
thinly-veiled attempt to divide the American people with
discrimination."

Two Senators, Sens. Specter and Gregg, changed their 2004 votes - both
voting against cloture. Republican Sens. Sununu, Chafee, Snowe, McCain,
Collins, Specter and Gregg all voted against the measure. The
procedural
vote, known as cloture, needed 60 votes to pass and received 49 votes
today. By defeating cloture, the vote killed the amendment. Had it
passed cloture, the amendment would have needed 67 votes to pass the
Senate.

In 2004, the Senate and House both fell far short of the two-thirds
vote
necessary to send the amendment to the states for ratification. In the
Senate, the vote against cloture was 50 to 48, with six Republicans
voting no. The Republicans who opposed cloture were Senators Campbell,
Chafee, Collins, McCain, Snowe and Sununu. In the House, the vote was
227 to 186.

Many prominent Republicans and conservatives expressed opposition to
the
amendment in 2004, including Vice President Cheney, Arlen Specter, Rudy
Guiliani, Chuck Hagel, David Dreier, George Pataki, Bob Barr, Alan
Simpson, George Will, and David Brooks. This year, those numbers
increased to former Senator Danforth who called the amendment, "silly"
and "contrary to basic Republican principles." Also, First Lady Laura
Bush was recently quoted as saying, "I don't think it should be used as
a campaign tool, obviously."

After it was announced that Senator McCain would deliver the
commencement address at Jerry Falwell's Liberty University, the many
media stories prompted McCain to reaffirm his opposition to the
amendment several times.

In response to a letter sent by Bill Frist in late April outlining the
Federal Marriage Amendment as a key vote, Senate Minority Leader Harry
Reid said, "We owe it to the American people to focus on their needs,
and not waste a single day focusing on partisan needs. That means
setting aside an issue like the marriage amendment, and tackling the
issue of gas prices instead."

A long list of African-American leaders has spoken out against the
amendment. The late Coretta Scott King told college students once that
"a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages is a form of
gay-bashing. ... Instead of trivializing the Constitution, we need some
laws that give families the kind of help they really need, like
job-training and child care assistance, stronger schools and health
insurance coverage for every family."

Julian Bond, Congressman John Lewis, Rev. Andrew Young, Ambassador
Carol
Moseley Braun, Leonard Pitts, Rev. Peter Gomes and Dr. Henry Louis
Gates
have all been public in their strong opposition to the amendment. The
NAACP also opposes the Federal Marriage Amendment and testified against
the amendment in 2004.

The Human Rights Campaign is the largest national lesbian, gay,
bisexual
and transgender political organization with members throughout the
country. It effectively lobbies Congress, provides campaign support and
educates the public to ensure that LGBT Americans can be open, honest
and safe at home, at work and in the community.

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