We had the vote, the only vote, on the Marriage Protection Amendment this morning. The bill started through the legislative process in the Senate Judiciary Committee. Immediately after introducing the bill, Senator Daylin Leach made a motion to table the bill. That motion is not debatable and requires an immediate vote. The motion passed 8 to 6. This was really a motion to kill the bill for this session. The Democrat members who voted to kill the bill were Lisa Boscola, Jay Costa, Wayne Fontana, Michael Stack and Daylin Leach. The Republicans who voted to kill the Marriage Protection Amendment were Jane Earl, Mary Jo White and Pat Browne. The 6 members, all Republicans, who voted against killing the bill were Stewart Greenleaf, John Rafferty, John Gordner, Jeff Piccola, Jane Orie and Joe Scarnati. Interestingly, the motion was to “table” the bill in an attempt to give members who voted to “table” cover back home. They can and will make claims that they didn’t vote against the bill for various manufactured reasons. They did this because they know that the folks back home want this measure to succeed and this will give them something to hide behind. They won’t do it with my help. I have told the media across the state all day, exactly what they did. It bodes well for the future of this battle.

- John