A party-line vote in the state Senate put Wisconsin on track to be the 20th state to ban gay marriage. The body decided, in a lengthy, heated debate Wednesday, to pass Senate Joint Resolution 53.
If the resolution passes the Assembly, it will be placed before voters in November.
For supporters of this bill, Wednesday's vote marked a long-awaited victory.
'Marriage is one of the fundamental bedrocks of our society, and deserves to be preserved as a union between one man and one woman,' said the bill's author, state Sen. Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, in a statement.
State Sen. Jon Erpenbach, D-Middleton, voted against the proposal, and said this constitutional amendment brings to mind the civil rights movement of the 1960s.
'This is making a group of people who live in the state sit on the back of the bus, use a different bubbler, use a different restroom,' he said.
Erpenbach also said he does not blame homosexual individuals who want to leave Wisconsin for a more tolerable, understanding state.
'We are going to strip away a basic, fundamental right if you live in this state,' Erpenbach said.
As an openly gay elected official, state Sen. Tim Carpenter, D-Milwaukee, also had strong words for his Republican colleagues.
He told legislators that voted in favor of the constitutional amendment, 'I forgive you.'
Carpenter said that through support of the amendment, Republican legislators were sending the message, 'All of us are equal but some of us are more equal than others.'
State Rep. Terese Berceau, D-Madison, called the amendment 'extreme' and said it would be detrimental to Wisconsin's citizens because it could deny gay couples domestic partner benefits.
'It makes us look like a very intolerable state and we already know that we have lost faculty who won't come here because they can't get domestic partner benefits,' Berceau said.
Mike Prentiss, Fitzgerald's spokesperson, said many Republican legislators are convinced that SJR 53 will pass through the Assembly and eventually appear before Wisconsin voters.
'Nineteen other states so far have put the issue before the voters and all 19 have approved it,' Prentiss said. 'We are very confident that when the voters of Wisconsin get a chance to weigh in on this, they're going to vote in favor of amending the constitution.'
Prentiss also said SJR 53 would in no way change anything that is already allowed in Wisconsin. He said because of similar legislation in Massachusetts, the 'existing prohibition in Wisconsin law against same sex marriage?? could essentially be thrown out as a result of judicial decisions in other states.'
