Urging President George W. Bush and the members of the United States Congress to cease and desist all efforts to pass Senate Joint Resolution 26 and House Joint Resolution 56 proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States relating to marriage.

WHEREAS, Senator Wayne Allard (CO) introduced Senate Joint Resolution 26 on November 25, 2003 and Representative Marilyn Musgrave (CO) introduced House Joint Resolution 56 on May 21, 2003, where both resolutions propose an amendment to the United States Constitution that reads, “Marriage in the United States shall consist only of the union of a man and a woman. Neither this Constitution, nor the Constitution of any State, nor State or Federal law, shall be construed to require that marital status or the legal incidents thereof be conferred upon unmarried couples or groups”; and

WHEREAS, President George W. Bush has publicly stated that he supports Representative Musgrave’s Resolution; and

WHEREAS, Amending the Constitution of the United States is rare and only done to address dire public policy needs. In our 214 year history the Constitution has been amended merely 17 times; and

WHEREAS, Throughout our history, the Constitution has only been amended to extend our rights and benefits as Americans. Amendments have been added to abolish slavery, give women, minorities and young people the right to vote, and establish a line of succession to the Presidency, among others to address pressing needs of this country. The proposed Amendment, however, restricts the rights of specific citizens by denying them benefits available to others because of their sexual orientation; and

WHEREAS, Civil rights in our country have been advanced through our country’s judicial system with cases such as

Brown v. the Board of Education

and

Loving v. Virginia

, where the courts believed it necessary to intervene in the government’s abuses of individuals’ rights. By adopting this amendment, we will be restricting the ability of the judicial system to uphold our civil liberties and weaken the checks-and-balances system of our government; and

WHEREAS, The proposed amendment denies fundamental rights to same-sex partners such as hospital visitation, inheritance rights and health care benefits that have been established by states, municipalities and corporations; and

WHEREAS, Marriage has been and should continue to be a legal determination defined by state governments; and

WHEREAS, The proposed amendment would preempt Philadelphia from granting life partnership status and benefits; and

WHEREAS, Over two decades ago the Philadelphia City Council amended the City’s Fair Practices Code to ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation; now therefore

RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, To urge President George W. Bush and the members of the United States Congress to cease and desist all efforts to pass Senate Joint Resolution 26 and House Joint Resolution 56 proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States relating to marriage.

FURTHER RESOLVED, That certified copies of this Resolution be forwarded to the President and members of the United States Congress as evidence of the deep concern of this legislative body.

End