Georgia Representative Paul C. Broun
has announced he will re-introduce a constitutional amendment that
bans gay marriage, reports the Athens Banner-Herald.
Broun's announcement comes a day after
Maine became the fifth state to legalize gay marriage. Last month,
Iowa and Vermont granted gay and lesbian couples the right to marry.
And New Hampshire Governor John Lynch is considering whether to sign
a gay marriage bill into law.
New polls also indicate an upturn in
public support for gay and lesbian rights.
Those state level victories
“highlighted the need for the amendment,” said Pepper Pennington,
a spokesman for Broun, a Republican from Athens.
Passage of the Federal Marriage
Amendment (or Marriage Protection Amendment) would define marriage as
a heterosexual union in the U.S. Constitution. It would block the
Supreme Court from ruling against a gay marriage ban as
unconstitutional.
The FMA was first introduced in 2002 by
Democratic Representative Ronnie Shows of Mississippi and written by
the Alliance For Marriage.
Up to last year, Broun had said he
opposed amending the U.S. Constitution to prohibit gay marriage.