6/17/09
Rep. Dave Agema
today said lawmakers should be focusing on how to create jobs
and improve
Michigan’s
economy, not on House legislation to repeal the state’s
voter-approved ban on gay marriage.
In
2004, Michigan voters
approved the ban by a 58.6-to 42.4-percent margin, which can
only be changed by amending the constitution through a statewide
ballot. A two-thirds super-majority vote of both the House and
Senate is required to place the measure on the ballot.
“The
people of Michigan have
made it clear they are against same-sex marriages. This
decision was upheld by the Attorney General and state Supreme
Court. Based on that
voter-approved ban public employers can’t offer health benefits
to same-sex or single partners,” said Agema, R-Grandville. “The
Democratic leadership has brought this issue up again and again
as part of a special interest agenda that only takes the focus
off Michigan’s
bigger priorities of jobs and the failing economy.
“Trying
to push through a law that would recognize gay marriage in Michigan is
subverting the will of the people, a misuse of power, and is
pandering to large donors. This type of legislation weakens the
most basic unit of our country, the family,” Agema said.
Voters
approved Proposal 2 in 2004, which added a constitutional
amendment that defines marriage in Michigan as
a union between one man and one woman.
If
the proposal to repeal the gay marriage ban is successful in the
Legislature, it would go before voters at the 2010 election.
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