Bismarck, ND-North Dakota Senate on Thursday rejected a measure that would have asked the United States Supreme Court to revoke its emblematic 2015 ruling that legalized same-sex marriage throughout the country throughout the country.
A vote to approve would have turned Dakota del Norte into the first state to make such overture to the Superior Court, after the State Representatives Chamber approved the measure last month.
The resolution failed in a vote of the Senate of 16-31 after about 10 minutes of debate.
Democratic senator Josh Boschee said in opposition: “I understand that this puts us all in a difficult place, but I ask you to think about who has put in the most difficult position with this resolution: the people of Dakota del Norte who are subject to the resolution … The Dakotans of the North Gay and lesbians who did not ask to be the issue of this conversation, but the conversation was carried out.”
Republican senator David Clemens supported the measure, saying that while the United States Constitution does not mention marriage, the North Dakota Constitution recognizes marriage as between a man and a woman. Clemens said he made an oath to maintain that document.
Several people in the gallery applauded when the defeat of the measure was announced.
Massachusetts based in Massachusetts pushed the measure and those of other states. The group called itself a “pro-family international group.” But it has been labeled as an “Anti-LGBTQ hatch” by the LGBTQ Glaad defense organization.
Legislators in at least nine states have recently introduced measures to try to avoid the right of same -sex couples to marry. Five of them, including North Dakota’s failed resolution, urge the Supreme Court to revoke their emblematic judgment of same -sex marriage 2015.
