US Senate Majority Leader Will Block Marrage Equality

February 6, 2004

WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist vowed that the Senate would block any effort to legalize gay marriage. In a speech on the Senate floor on Thursday, the Tennessee Republican responded to Wednesday's decision by the Massachusetts' Supreme Judicial Court legalizing gay marriage in Massachusetts.

I want to be very clear. We reject intolerance, we reject hatred. We must treat all our fellow citizens with civility and kindness, First said. But marriage should not be redefined by the courts and we in this body can't let it, we won't let it.

We must protect, preserve and strengthen the institution of marriage against activist judges, he said. If that means we must amend the constitution, as seems increasingly likely, then we will do just that.