Marriage Protection Amendment

MARRIAGE PROTECTION AMENDMENT -- (House of Representatives - September 30, 2004)

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to House Resolution 801, proceedings will now resume on the joint resolution (H.J. Res. 106) proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States relating to marriage.

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Mr. ISRAEL. Mr. Speaker, as some of my colleagues have said, this is about protecting our children.

Do my colleagues know what I want my children to be protected from? From Osama bin Laden. We still do not know whether he is dead or alive. From the anthrax mailer, whom we still have not found. From the 6 million containers that come into our country every year, of which only 5 percent are inspected. From missiles that are being developed in Iran. From missiles that are being developed in North Korea. I want to protect children of parents who today are fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, some of whom still do not have the protective gear that they need.

Mr. Speaker, I will go home tonight and say to my two children, thank God, we have kept you safe from same-sex marriages; but we have not kept you safe from other threats in the world.

Mr. Speaker, some of us want to make the world safe for democracy; others want to make this world safe for hypocrisy. This resolution is not an act of Congress. It is an act of hypocrisy. It is divisive and should be defeated.

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