05.29.06
Mormons Told To Lobby Senate For Anti-Gay Amendment
Mormons throughout the country have been told to lobby their senators to support the so-called Federal Marriage Amendment that would ban same-sex marriage in the Constitution.
The Senate is expected to vote on the proposed amendment next week.
In a letter read in all congregations of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Sunday senior officials of the denomination said that the Church has “repeatedly set forth our position that the marriage of a man and a woman is the only acceptable marriage relationship.”
It was signed by LDS President Gordon B. Hinckley and his counselors.
“We urge our members to express themselves on this urgent matter to their elected representatives in the Senate,” the letter said.
The Utah-based Church has spent millions of dollars campaigning against gay marriage. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) is a co-sponsor of the amendment.
The proposed amendment would bar same-sex couples from marrying, block courts and state legislatures allowing gay marriage, nullify marriages already performed in Massachusetts - the only state in the country where they are currently legal - and according to critics possibly block civil unions and override domestic partner laws.
Sunday Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said that he hopes the amendment issue will galvanize the Republican Party. (story)
“It’s important to the heart and soul of the American people,” Frist (R-Tenn.) told “Fox News Sunday”.
“That union between a man and a woman is the cornerstone of our society. It is under attack today … [by] activist judges, unelected activist judges,” he said.