Ask Your Senators to Vote No on the Federal Marriage Amendment
July 9, 2004 Reason: Call your respective Senators at the Capitol Switchboard (202-224-3121), and urge them to vote against the Federal Marriage Amendment (S.J.Res.30).
To e-mail or fax a letter to your representative and senators through NASW's Congress Web, please view http://www.socialworkers.org/advocacy/grassroots/congressweb.asp
Issue: Sen. Wayne Allard (R-CO) introduced S.J.Res.30 on March 22, 2004 . Currently, S.J.Res.30 has six Senate cosponsors and has been referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee. A vote may occur during the week of July 12, 2004 .
Legislative Intent: S.J.Res.30 proposes an amendment to the Constitution pertaining to sanctioned marriage. The Amendment explicitly attempts to prohibit same-sex marriages, and to prevent “activist judges” from requiring states to create civil unions. The Resolution, however, requires a two-thirds majority in both chambers for ratification.
In February, President Bush endorsed the Amendment in principle because it espouses his belief that marriage in the United States should consist of only a union between a man and a woman. On June 21, 2004 , the Congressional Budget Office reported that allowing same-sex couples to marry would have a positive impact upon the federal budget. The report confirms recent findings from state-level studies conducted by the Institute for Gay and Lesbian Strategic Studies (IGLSS) and the Williams Project at UCLA Law School . The Congressional Budget Office found that allowing same-sex couples to marry would boost federal income tax revenues by $400 million per year until the end of this decade, primarily because of the marriage penalty.
These findings parallel the conclusions of recent studies that were conducted by IGLSS and the Williams Project about the impact of granting marriage and domestic partnership rights at the state level. The most recent study illustrated that California would have a net savings of $22-25 million per year, provided that same-sex couples could marry. A study of New Jersey 's Domestic Partnership Act predicts that the State is likely to see a net savings of $61 million per year by providing rights to same-sex couples. Some economists contend that the CBO report supplements various studies. These studies indicate that same-sex marriage makes sense from an economic perspective .
Social Work Action: The National Association of Social Workers (NASW) believes that the Federal Marriage Amendment would permanently write discrimination into the Constitution. NASW is profoundly opposed to S.J.Res.30 or any proposal that would alter America 's most significant document for the explicit rationale of precluding any groups or individuals from its assurances of equal protection.
Denying gay couples the right to marry abolishes legal rights in pensions, health insurance, hospital visitation, and inheritance that other committed couples enjoy. The Association vigorously asserts that it is wrong to discriminate in this way against gay and lesbian Americans who serve in America's military, who maintain safety in our communities as police officers and fire fighters, who staff our hospitals, and who pay their equitable share of taxes.
Social workers do not condone nor collaborate with any facet of discrimination. In fact, social workers steadfastly act to prevent and eliminate exploitation of marginalized communities. Therefore, NASW condemns policies, practices, and attitudes of bigotry, intolerance, and hate that place any person's human rights and dignity in jeopardy. Please call, write, or e-mail your Senators and encourage them to oppose S.J.Res.30.
Contact: Lawrence Moore, III at 202-336-8289.
To view NASW's Same-Sex Marriage Position Statement, visit http://www.socialworkers.org/diversity/lgb/062804.asp
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