Welcome to ProtectWVMarriage.com
On February 23, 2011, President Barack Obama instructed his U.S. Attorney General, Eric Holder, to direct the U.S. Department of Justice to cease defending the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). To learn more about this outrageous act by President Obama, visit Liberty Counsel, author of the West Virginia Marriage Protection Amendment.
This federal statute signed into law by President Bill Clinton on September 21, 1996, defined marriage as a legal union between one man and one woman. Under the federal DOMA law, no state (or other political subdivision within the United States) would be required to recognize as marriage a same-sex relationship considered as marriage in another state.
The Marriage Protection Amendment was again reintroduced on January 13, 2011 in the 1st Session of the 80th Legislature. SJR-5 and HJR-18.
Unfortunately, the majority democratic party leadership again refused for the sixth consecutive year to even allow the Marriage Protection Amendment out of House Constitutional Revision Committee, keeping the marriage amendment bottled up in this committee and denying a full floor vote on this critical public policy issue. HJR-5 2/23/10 RC#63 (68-30)
The reason consistently given over these many years by the majority party for their actions are two-fold as follows:
1.) West Virginia already has a Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) law, therefore, the state statute is sufficient to protect the institution of marriage from homosexual activists attempt to redefine it.
2.) The WV Supreme Court has already issued a decision upholding a legal challenge to West Virginia’s DOMA law.
Click here to read a legal opinion written by Steve Crampton, a renowned constitutional attorney and Vice President of Legal Affairs and General Counsel of Liberty Counsel, to learn the fallacy of both of these arguments by the majority democratic party.
The latest action by President Obama ordering U.S. Attorney General, Eric Holder, and the Department of Justice to no longer defend DOMA removes the very foundation States relied upon as a buckler for instituting their DOMA laws. This should sound the alarm and remove any remaining doubt to members of the WV Legislature on the urgent need to pass the Marriage Protection Amendment immediately!
The Constitution belongs to the people of West Virginia and legislators are to be servants to their constituents protecting and respecting their wishes. As such, there is no higher priority or demonstration of this obligation and responsibility than by allowing their constituents the right to vote on the definition of marriage when this legislation (HJR –18) is reintroduced in the 2012 2nd Session of the 80th Legislature.
Please pray for the members of the West Virginia Legislature during the 2012 session for wisdom and courage to pass the Marriage Protection Amendment.
Below are things you can do to help promote the Marriage Protection Amendment.
• Visit our website, www.wvfamily.org, to find your legislator, then contact him or her urging them to support the comprehensive Marriage Protection Amendment language provided by Liberty Counsel during the 2012 legislative session. Remind them they work for you and not the other way around. Tell them you will be watching this issue very closely in the 2012 legislative session and this issue will be pivotal on your decision to support them in the next election cycle;
• Call your legislators (1-877-565-3447) today and tell them to allow you to vote on the Marriage Protection Amendment;
• Tell your friends, family, and co-workers about ProtectWVMarriage.com; and
• Give to the ongoing efforts to protect the definition of marriage and to prevent counterfeit relationships.