By Karen Ocamb

On May 18, Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) and Sen. Russell Feingold (D-Wis.) got into a shouting match over a constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex marriage.

After declaring his opposition to the amendment and fuming over Specter's moving the meeting behind closed doors, Feingold threatened to leave.

"I don't need to be lectured by you. You are no more a protector of the Constitution than am I," Specter shouted at Feingold. “If you want to leave, good riddance.”

"I've enjoyed your lecture, too, Mr. Chairman," Feingold retorted. "See ya."

The committee voted 10-8 along party lines to send the amendment to the Senate floor where Sen. Majority Leader Bill Frist has promised to bring it up for a vote the week of June 5.

The amendment says, “Marriage in the United States shall consist only of the union of a man and a woman. Neither this Constitution, nor the constitution of any State, shall be construed to require that marriage or the legal incidents thereof be conferred upon any union other than the union of a man and a woman.”

On May 22, the Gallup News Service reported results of their new survey indicated that 50 percent of Americans say they favor such a constitutional amendment, while 47 percent opposed; 58 percent are opposed to granting same-sex marriages the same legal rights as traditional marriages. The poll also found that 66 percent of Republicans favor a heterosexuals-only constitutional definition of marriage, while 55 percent of Democrats oppose it.

Meanwhile, despite vociferous political pressure from the religious right, first lady Laura Bush revealed a split with President Bush over the amendment, warning that the issue could backfire. "Well, I don't think it should be used as a campaign tool, obviously," Mrs. Bush told Fox News. "But I do think it's something that people in the United States want to debate. And it requires a lot of sensitivity to talk about the issue, a lot of sensitivity." Vice President Dick Cheney opposes the amendment, as does his lesbian daughter Mary, who has been speaking out against the amendment while promoting her book.

But while Democrats oppose the constitutional amendment, they are far from united on the issue of same-sex marriage. Saying states should decide how to define marriage, Democrats did little to combat the 19 constitutional amendments voters already passed and there appears to be no strategy to defeat the initiatives in nine more states this November.

Meanwhile, many gay Democrats are still angry over an appearance by Democratic National Chair Howard Dean on the Christian Broadcasting Network where he said the party platform recognized marriage as only between a man and a woman. Dean later said he “misstated” the platform and reiterated that the party is “committed to full inclusion of gay and lesbian families into the life of our nation.” But he didn't apologize for the error and conservative pundits say the evangelicals to whom Dean was trying to reach out now doubt his sincerity.