Ban on gay marriage may not pass

IDAHO FALLS — A group working on a Constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage in Idaho may not have as much support as it thinks.

The Post Register has identified 12 state senators who at least partly oppose the amendment — enough to kill the effort in the Idaho Senate.

Some of the senators oppose the amendment and were willing to say so on record, the Idaho Falls newspaper reported. Others declined to go on the record, saying they want to see how the amendment is worded before making a final decision.

“I believe gay marriage is a wedge issue promoted by the far right to tear apart the Republican Party,” said Sen. John Goedde, R-Coeur d’Alene. “I don’t think this exercise is worth a hill of beans.”

The House is a different story. Last year, an amendment defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman easily passed the House and is expected to do so again.

And amendment supporters say they don’t expect any problems in the Senate, either.

“I believe we’ve got the 24 votes (in the Idaho Senate) needed to get the job done,” said Meridian Republican Gerry Sweet, who along with Nampa Republican Curt McKenzie is working with conservative groups from Idaho and around the country to make gay-marriage bans the law of the land.

In the Senate, eastern Idaho’s representatives support Sweet’s efforts.

Four of eastern Idaho’s six senators — Mel Richardson of Idaho Falls, Don Burtenshaw of Terreton, Stan Williams of Pingree and Brent Hill of Rexburg — co-sponsored last year’s gay-marriage amendment. Senate Pro Tem Robert Geddes of Soda Springs and Majority Leader Bart Davis of Idaho Falls also support an amendment.

“If it hits the board, it’s got my vote,” Davis said.

But the two other members of Senate Republican leadership — Joe Stegner of Lewiston and Brad Little of Emmett — oppose the amendment.

Little says Idaho’s Defense of Marriage Act, the state statute banning gay marriage, already covers the matter.

The only way for gay marriage to be foisted upon Idaho, Little said, is for a state judge to say the Defense of Marriage Act violates the state constitution. Or, Little said, the U.S. Supreme Court could uphold November 2003 ruling in Massachusetts that said it was unconstitutional to bar same-sex couples from civil marriage. Then it wouldn’t matter what Idaho did, he said.

Thirteen states passed constitutional amendments this year banning gay marriage: 11 in November, one in September and one in August. The average vote in favor was 70 percent.

Sweet said that means Democrats in those states, which include Utah, Oregon and Montana, supported gay-marriage bans.

But Little said a wave of momentum is no reason to change the Idaho Constitution. The argument that liberal Oregon did and so must we makes no sense, Little said.

“I would say people in Idaho have more faith in the judicial system than they do in Oregon,” he said.

Although at least 12 senators would vote against the amendment if the vote were taken today, some believe overwhelming support from Idaho residents could push a few of those into the yes column.