Representatives Jetton and Crowell announce an initiative to amend Missouri’s Constitution.

edited by Robert Vanderbrugen

Democrat News Reporter

Speaker Pro Tem Representative Rod Jetton (R-Marble Hill) joined with House Majority Floor Leader Jason Crowell (R-Cape Girardeau) in announcing an initiative to pass an amendment to the Missouri Constitution that would protect traditional marriage.

Missouri statute currently defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman. However state supreme court rulings in Vermont and Massachusetts have struck down similar statutes. Supporters of traditional marriage in those states have begun movements to amend their state constitutions in order to void those judicial rulings.

In order to keep Missouri’s marriage protection statute from being overturned, Representative Jetton and Representative Crowell are proposing to place the marriage definition in the state constitution This would defeat any constitutional challenge to Missouri’s laws and preserve the tradition of reserving marriage solely for a man and a woman.

“This is a vital step to protect the American family and to preserve the values that have made this state and this nation great,” explained Jetton. “We need to act now in order to ensure that Missouri will never abandon traditional family values. “Addressing the need for legislative action now,” Representative Crowell commented; “We’ve seen too many liberal-activist judges in this country read their own beliefs into the constitutions of their states and the Constitution of this nation: we don’t want that to happen in Missouri.”

The legislators will be launching this initiative through a series of press conferences in Southeast Missouri where they will be joined by religious and community leaders. The conferences (took) place Friday, December 19th in front of the county recorder of deeds’ offices in Madison County at 8:00 am. Cape Girardeau County at 9:30 am Bollinger County at 10:45 am, Wayne County at noon and Butler County at 1:30 pm.

Pastor Miller of the Second Baptist Church in Fredericktown attended the meeting at the Madison County Courthouse. He said, “the person in the pew needs to come out and vote their conscious. Vote what scripture has to say.”

Crowell said, “We are standing here before you today as your state legislatures saying you will have an opportunity to vote on this as a constitutional amendment this November…”