Source: Arizona Daily Sun, Arizona Daily Star, Arizona Capitol Times
PHOENIX -- Efforts to put a question on the November ballot asking voters to constitutionally deny equal marriage rights to same-sex couples overcame a major roadblock Monday -- passing through a closely divided state House on a 33-25 vote.

A lack of support had stalled the measure for weeks, and it appeared dead in early April. But supporters managed to drum up the votes they needed in time for a Monday morning roll call -- due in part to two Democratic crossover votes.

Monday's vote sends the measure to the Senate which has not yet considered the proposal. There is some question about whether senators will get the opportunity to vote on the legislation, though. Although Senate President Tim Bee sponsored an identical piece of legislation earlier this year, it never was brought to the floor for a vote, a fate some believe could befall this measure.

Rep. Michele Reagan, R-Scottsdale, termed the legislative battle during the last three months "insulting," saying lawmakers should have been working on other more important issues. But, still, she ended up voting for the measure.

Monday's vote came despite an effort by Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Phoenix, to kill the measure with a procedural move.

In April, Sinema derailed the issue by successfully tacking on an amendment to grant certain rights to unmarried couples.

The additional provision was unacceptable to those who oppose equality of rights for lesbian and gay couples. Backers let the bill die in April, only to bring it back in the original form.

On Monday, Sinema claimed the right under House rules to have any proposal reviewed by the Rules Committee to see if it is "a proper subject for legislation" or is "insulting or derogatory."

"The purpose for this amendment is not in actuality to create any kind of legislation," she said, citing the existing statutory ban on same-sex weddings.

"The intent here is to single out one group of persons apart from another group of persons in Arizona and use that as a political tool in the general election," Sinema said, to bring out people who would vote to ban gay marriages -- and presumably support more socially conservative legislative candidates.

Whether that would work, though, remains an open question: Democrats actually picked up six seats in the state House in 2006 when the last gay marriage measure was on the ballot.

In a statement, Equality Arizona, an LGBT lobbying group, said the legislators who approved the measure had "voted to perpetuate the politics of division."

The group said the legislators who voted for the measure "want more litigation that threatens to take away domestic benefits from unmarried couples."

The House vote came over the objection of several legislators who said voters already have rejected the idea.

A similar, though much broader, measure was rejected by voters in 2006. Beyond the gay-marriage ban, it prohibited governments from providing benefits to the domestic partners of their employees and outlawed the potential for civil unions.

Rep. Linda Lopez, D-Tucson, said she believes if this measure is approved in November it still could provide legal leverage for challenges to domestic partner benefits offered by some cities and counties and just approved for state and university employees.

"In other states where this same language has been used with that same argument that it's just about 'one man, one woman,' not about domestic partner benefits, those proponents have come back in and attacked domestic partner benefits," she said. "That's just plain wrong," said Lopez who said she has a lesbian daughter and gay brother.

The measure won the support of all but two House Republicans present -- Southern Arizona Reps. Pete Hershberger and Jennifer Burns. They were offset by two Democrats, Reps. Jack Brown of St. Johns and Pete Rios of Hayden, joining the Republican majority in voting to send the question to the ballot.

Some legislators said they had divided feelings about the whole issue.

"I've heard it stated many times that marriage is under attack," said Rep. Marian McClure, R-Tucson. But she said that "attack" is not coming from gays who want the same rights to wed.

"When you have 65 percent of men cheating on their wives and 60 percent of the women cheating on their husbands, I can only agree that marriage is under attack," she said.

Despite the evidence she cited, McClure voted for the measure, saying, "If I do believe that marriage is between a man and a woman, how do I go into church next Sunday and try to explain to my pastor and to my Christian community that I voted saying that marriage was not between a man and a woman?"

She suggested that voters would be too dumb to listen to the arguments against the measure that she, herself, had presented. "The average individual looks at the bill number and the title," she said. "What do they see? Marriage between one man and one woman."

Backers of SCR 1042 acknowledged state law already limits marriage in Arizona to one man and one woman. That law has been upheld by the state Court of Appeals, a decision the state Supreme Court refused to disturb. But Rep. Steve Yarbrough, R-Chandler, said only by putting the provision into the state constitution can foes of same-sex weddings ensure that a future court -- or a future Legislature -- cannot decide otherwise.

"This amendment will eliminate the possibility of tampering with the definition of marriage by politicians or judges," he claimed.

Full article: House pursues gay marriage ban | Arizona Daily Sun
Same-sex-marriage ban advances | Arizona Daily Star
House approves resolution on marriage definition | Arizona Capitol Times