Wisconsin Assembly Surrenders To Misleading Arguments On Marriage Vote

March 5, 2004

Today, the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin expressed its disappointment that the Wisconsin Assembly has adopted a resolution calling for an unnecessary and inappropriate state constitutional amendment defining civil marriage. The ACLU of Wisconsin, which testified against the resolution at hastily scheduled hearings, hopes the Wisconsin State Senate will understand that the resolution proposes to legislate morality. It urges the Senate to reject pressure to adopt the Assembly resolution, which includes vague language that will harm same gender couples by taking away some current benefits or forever prohibiting other remedies to unfair discrimination.

After the Assembly remained in session overnight dealing with the resolution, it is clear that members in favor still either did not understand the issues or chose not to understand. For instance, Speaker John Gard, in his last remarks before the vote misled listeners by incorrectly suggesting that judges are un-elected or that a single whimsical judge could change the law. Judges in Wisconsin are elected and the appellate process is a check on the decisions of single judges. And, Representative Wayne Wood at the same time asserted that procreation was the essence of marriage thereby giving a rationale for discriminating against gay couples. In fact there are many married couples, whom either can not or chose not to have children, and still marry. The essence of civil marriage is a contractual relationship between two individuals.

Given the misguided debate around the resolution in the Assembly, the ACLU of Wisconsin, urges the Wisconsin State Senate, to be more deliberative and use the little time left in this session to deal with more urgent matters.

The ACLU of Wisconsin is a citizen organization with over 6,000 members in the state.