A week or so ago, I received a copy of a memo by PA House Representative Daryl Metcalfe, concerning his plans to introduce an amendment to the Pennsylvania Constitution that would do two things:

• Define Marriage as between a man and a woman
• Embed in the Constitution, that heterosexual marriage is the only form of union recognized by the State of Pennsylvania

That constitutional amendments get raised in Pennsylvania against Same-sex relationships is nothing new. Last year, in the State Senate a similar bill was tabled in committee (SB 707), and similar bills had been raised in past years as well, but something has changed from last year till now. Now, both the State House and the Senate are controlled by the Republicans, and the Governor is a Republican as well, making it far easier than before to get this legislation passed entirely and add Pennsylvania to the list of states that have discrimination built right into their Constitutions. A copy of the memo, as a PDF is linked. My favorite sentence in it is this:

It is important that we support traditional marriage and have constitutional amendments to protect it at the state and federal levels. Every society needs natural marriage -as men and women finding, caring for and committing exclusively to one another -working together to create and raise a family for the benefit of future generations. Marriage is a common good, not a special interest. Special interests should not have the right to redefine marriage for all of us.

While the issue of “traditional marriage” may be worth discussing, I’ll let that go at the moment and focus on the other interesting idea here, “natural marriage.” I don’t think I’ve seen that phrase used before anywhere, and if any of my readers has, please let me know. The idea is fairly easy to understand. This is “the basic plumbing” argument. We know however, that Human Beings are the only creatures on the planet who marry, and there is nothing to support the idea that marriage is natural. Marriage was a man-made legal arrangement designed to make a woman the property of her husband, and protect him and his wealth, while protecting the blood line of his family. Marriage serves many good purposes, but it only seems natural to us, because for hundreds of years, it has been an institution known to us. Oh, and the idea of “special interest”? This is a blatant effort for the far right Christian crazies like the American Family Association of PA. There are churches, pastors and denominations, here in Pennsylvania and elsewhere who welcome and support same-sex couples. It is only the far right fringe who seek to keep gay and lesbian couples from being treated fairly.

As Ted Martin, Executive Director of Equality PA points out:

Of course, most of us knew this was coming.  However, we didn’t think he would end-up as the chair of the committee that oversees this legislation though.  Yes, as an added bonus he will be taking over the Committee on State Government come early January.  A turn of events that will make the next few months an adventure to say the least.

Directly after last November’s election, I was speaking with Andy Hoover of the ACLU, on my Blog Talk Radio program. At that time (well before this memo) he wasn’t sure if we would see an anti-gay marriage amendment this year or not. Last year, the Senate legislation marked several defeats for such a bill, and the State Senate, which has been Republican controlled, has learned that they can accomplish their conservative agenda, by staying away from the more controversial social issues. Given the fact that the supposed mandate of the November election was good, lean government that cut costs and served the people, there was some belief that both the House and the Senate, might try and do that, instead of waste time and money fighting the Culture War. Doesn’t look that way at all, anymore.

Lesbian blogger Sue Kerr has some good coverage of this issue and her conversation with Sue Frietsche of the Women’s Law Project, and I highly suggest you read Frietsche’s comments.

EQPA’s Martin suggests using the time now to gather our collective energy for the coming fight. Not a bad suggestion at all, but I want to make a few other points for your consideration:

• This bill would ban any legal recognition of same-sex couples, and that could include Civil Unions or Domestic Partnerships. This is both scary, as Sue Frietsche points out, but it could be a good thing. The definition of marriage can be protected and still allow Civil Unions and Domestic Partnerships to be recognized. The far reaching nature of this may help to defeat it. It is so far reaching however, because the recent court wins against such bans have shown the anti-gay groups that they have to work harder to squash any form of fairness if they are going to have any success at all. Thus, language like “natural marriage,” gets constructed. The fear mongering starts pretty soon.
• Bills like this are going to be showing up all over the place in a concerted and strategized way, supported by big money and groups like the National Organization for Marriage (NOM). Because of the recent wins for Marriage Equality on all fronts, they are stepping up there efforts to get anti-gay legislation on the books in as many states as they can, and get that legislation as deep into the constitution as they can get it. I’ve written at length about the Tea Party’s (which is really the GOP’s) attempt to rip the Federal Constitution apart, and so even if Federal courts find state bills to be unconstitutional, having these bills in place will slow the process of same-sex marriage down. I honestly believe, they (the anti-gay bigots) know that they will lose in the end, but they are fighting tooth and nail, against the odds to turn this issue around. Enough states have either Marriage Equality or some other form of legal recognition, that it is only a matter a time. So, if they are going to lose, they are going to make that “time” take as long as it can possibly take.
• Not everyone believes that a push for same-sex marriage is the most important struggle for activists and LGBT advocates in Pennsylvania to be fighting at this time. And indeed, one of the problems with this bill is that to fight it, one has to fight for same-sex marriage. There is no state that now has same-sex marriage that didn’t already have state-wide non-discrimination protections. I like others believe that our focus should be first and foremost on getting non-discrimination passed, but we aren’t likely to have that opportunity, especially with Metcalfe as a committee chair.
• We are partly in this mess because we just elected a Republican governor, and a Republican led House, while we already had a Republican led Senate. Now is the right time to begin working to get LGBTQ and LGBTQ-friendly women and men elected in 2012 and 2014! A large number of State races go uncontested, and any progressive voter must join forces now to seek out better candidates and get started at the task of unseating those who wish to turn the clock back, and keep Pennsylvania in the Dark Ages. There is money and other support out there too, for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and trans candidates! The only way we can assure not having legislation like this brought forward in future years (that is, if we defeat it this time) is to get a House and Senate full of progressive elected officials. Now, is the time to start that process.
• Lastly, it is going to take everyone working together  if we are going to beat this legislation, if it is actually introduced. We were successful with SB 707 last year, in a big way, because many many constituents all over the state got involved and either met with their legislator or wrote personal letters to the committee members. We did this before, and we can do it again, and the fight is worth it. And this is true anywhere across the country. If there was any time for everyone who believes in Equality to get together ands work hard together, it is now!