A committee of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives failed to follow through with a scheduled vote this week on a bill that would ban same-sex marriage in the state constitution.
Rep. Daryl Metcalfe (R-12th), the chair of the House State Government Committee and prime sponsor of the measure, pulled HB 1434 from consideration Tuesday.
Metcalfe told committee members he was delaying the vote because of the large number of amendments that have been submitted to the bill.
Metcalfe did not return a call for comment from PGN.
The measure would define marriage in the constitution as being between one man and one woman and prohibit recognition of any form of same-sex union. The state already has a similar statute on the books.
Rep. Babette Josephs (D-182nd Dist.), minority chair of the committee and prime sponsor of a bill to legalize same-sex marriage, applauded the delay.
“I’m glad to see that Republicans are rethinking this dangerous amendment,” she said. “I will continue to fight this and any other attempt to write discrimination into our constitution.”
Metcalfe said Tuesday he wanted to schedule a hearing on the bill before a vote, the timing for which is unclear.
Equality Pennsylvania executive director Ted Martin said the measure is “far from dead.”
“We have to watch this closely because a vote like this can be snuck in during highly tense times, like during the budget debate,” he said. “[Tuesday] was a good day, but we can’t rest on our laurels because this is not the end of this.”
Martin speculated that the amendment list was not the only factor in Metcalfe’s decision to preempt the vote.
Equality PA and about two-dozen other LGBT and ally groups “carpet-bombed” committeemembers’ offices all weekend, Martin said, with phone calls, emails and faxes urging them to vote against the bill.
While meeting with several Republican legislators Monday about the measure, Martin said he could hear the calls coming in to the offices.
Other recent efforts by some Republicans may have also stymied the vote, Martin suggested.
“This was just one more part of an extreme right-wing agenda,” he said. “I think members were tired of having to take these votes, these crazy votes. They had the ultrasound bill, the voter ID bill, abortion bills. It’s just one bad vote after another. I think Pennsylvanians should understand the craziness this legislature is talking about.”
The Senate has defeated similar measures in the last two sessions, but the bill hadn’t been introduced in the House since 2006, when it was approved.
Jen Colletta can be reached at [email protected].