House tentatively approves gay marriage ban

? The Kansas House today gave preliminary approval of a constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriages.

The measure was advanced on a voice vote and will be up for final approval in the House on Friday.

If approved by a two-thirds vote in the House and Senate, the proposal, as it stands now, would be placed before voters in November for their consideration.

House Speaker Doug Mays, R-Topeka, said he was confident the proposed amendment to the state constitution would get the necessary two-thirds vote, which would be 84 votes in the 125-member House.

“I think the votes will be there,” he said.

The most significant challenge to the proposal today failed, 35-84.

State Rep. Thomas Owens, R-Overland Park, tried to replace the proposed constitutional amendment with a resolution that would have allowed civil unions between gay partners and stated that marriage was a religious institution.

Speaking against the ban on gay marriages, Owens asked, “What group is going to be next singled out to be excluded by a constitutional amendment?”

But supporters of the ban on gay marriages said it was needed to protect the institution of marriage.

The proposed state amendment — HCR 5033 — says that marriage can only be between a man and a woman, and that all other marriages are “contrary to the public policy of this state and are void.”

State Rep. Dan Thimesch, D-Cheney, tried to amend the measure to move the election on it from the November general election to the August primaries.

But state Rep. Kathe Decker, R- Clay Center, said putting it on the ballot in November helped conservative Republicans by increasing turnout of supporters of the amendment. Thimesch’s proposal to move the date of the election failed 43-74.


For more on this story, pick up a copy of Friday’s Journal-World.