(Trenton) – The President of the New Jersey Family Policy Council with regard to the US Senate vote of the Federal Marriage Protection Amendment expressed deep disappointment in how New Jersey’s two U.S. senators voted on the amendment.

Len Deo, Director of the Family Policy Council, said Senator Frank Lautenberg’s and Senator Robert Menendez’s vote was a slap in the face to the millions of New Jersey voters who believe marriage should be legally defined as between a man and a woman.

“Our Senators’ sent a message to New Jersey voters today,” Deo said. “They told the voters in our state that marriage, as between one man and one woman, is not as important as political party and partisan politics.” The vote on the amendment fell mostly along party lines. Only one Democratic Senator voted to support the measure.

“We know the excuses,” Deo said, “They say the issue of marriage doesn’t rise to the level of a U.S. Constitutional amendment. “They say this should be a state issue, but activist federal courts have already made it a federal issue by striking down Nebraska’s and Georgia’s state amendments,” Deo said. “Everyone knows that the issue of how marriage will be defined in America will ultimately find its way to the U.S. Supreme Court, especially if there is a legal challenge to the Federal Defense of Marriage Act. Then a Federal Marriage Protection Amendment will be the only remedy to protect the time honored, publicly supported, God-ordained institution of marriage from being radically redefined by activist judges.

Deo, whose group has been very involved in the current lawsuit in New Jersey where seven same-sex couples have sued the state to have marriage redefined by the Courts instead of giving the people the right to vote, stated that thousands of petition post cards were delivered to both Senators urging them to support the federal amendment. He said “A very strong majority of New Jersey citizens support the amendment.”

“If the Courts do radically redefine marriage in this state to allow two men or two women to “marry” then the people will move to have their state representatives vote to allow the people to express their opinion through a state constitutional amendment ballot initiative. Thousands of calls, e-mails and faxes and postcards were received by our US Senators from their NJ constituency to support the amendment. However, our senators chose to vote against the majority of New Jerseyans on this one. This will be a vote that the Values Voters in New Jersey won’t soon forget.”

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