State senate committee chairman skirts ban on gay marriage bill

Thursday, February 19th 2004, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ The Republican leader of the Oklahoma Senate lashed out at the Democratic Senate leadership Thursday for killing a constitutional amendment proposing to ban gay marriage.

Senate Joint Resolution 38 died in the Senate Human Resources Committee when Sen. Bernest Cain, committee chairman, refused to bring up the measure ahead of a legislative deadline.

``The fix was in from the start,'' said Sen. James A. Williamson, R-Tulsa. He said Senate President Pro Tem Cal Hobson, D-Lexington, doomed his measure by assigning it to Cain's committee.

Cain, D-Oklahoma City, defended his decision not to hear the bill.

``I think it is a wedge issue rather than a real issue for the state of Oklahoma because we already have in statute that we don't accept same-sex marriages from other states,'' he said.

``I think the constitution is not where to deal with that,'' he said.

Cain said Oklahoma should not take a stance similar to one that some southern states took when they had segregation laws in their constitutions.

``Eventually _ though maybe not in my lifetime _ I think gay people will have equal rights and all of us who wanted to restrict those rights will look mighty stupid in the future,'' Cain said.

``All we are asking is for senators to have a chance to vote on this important issue, just as other state legislatures from Ohio to Georgia are doing,'' Williamson said.

Williamson's measure was one of several anti-gay marriage proposals to die in House and Senate committees.

Rep. Rebecca Hamilton, D-Oklahoma, did win passage in the House Judiciary Committee of her proposal asking Congress to initiate public hearings on amendment to the federal constitution that declares marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

Hobson has blasted Republicans for showing ``hysteria'' over the gay marriage issue and promoting it as campaign issue in the fall. He said Oklahoma does not have the kind of activist judges who would overturn the ban in state law.

``It is not the most pressing social issue facing our state, as the minority leader has asserted,'' Hobson said Thursday.