Jorgenson co-sponsors amendment
BOISE – New Sen. Mike Jorgenson, R-Hayden Lake, says he’s co-sponsoring an anti-gay marriage amendment because “it’s one of my core beliefs.”
Jorgenson is one of 15 senators who signed on as co-sponsors of a new constitutional amendment introduced in an Idaho Senate committee Friday morning. The measure would not only define marriage as a union of a man and a woman, it also would forbid the state from recognizing any other “legal status similar to that of marriage.”
That would ban civil unions or domestic partnerships between any couples, whether they are same-sex or opposite-sex.
“I believe that a marriage is a traditional marriage between a man and a woman – that’s my core belief,” Jorgenson said. “A heterosexual couple that chooses to live together and not get married – they obviously don’t want to be married. What would a civil union offer to them that they didn’t already have? … If they want the insurance benefits, then they would have no problem getting married.”
“That’s my solution,” the freshman senator said. “We all make choices in life that we all have to be accountable for.”
Jorgenson said he believes voters should have a say on the issue. The constitutional amendment doesn’t take effect unless it receives both two-thirds support from each house of the Legislature and majority support at the next general election.
He also said he feared that Idaho’s existing law outlawing same-sex marriage could be overturned in court.
“It’s a possibility,” he said. “It’d be like closing the door after the horse is out to let it go to court and then have legislation. We’d have to live with what the court said, and that’s a roll of the dice.”
Jorgenson, a business consultant and Hayden Lake city councilman, defeated former Sen. Kent Bailey last spring in a three-way GOP primary. He was unopposed in the general election.
Jorgenson said same-sex marriage was an issue in his election campaign. “I ran an election against my opponent, and I have to believe that is an important reason why he lost,” he said. “The constituents in my area are consistent with what my core beliefs are.”
He added, “If somebody wants to have a same-sex relationship, that’s their business, but to bring it into society’s acceptance by saying it’s OK because law recognizes you as being married people just doesn’t work for me.”
The other senators sponsoring the measure all are from southern Idaho, except for north-central Idaho Sen. Skip Brandt, R-Kooskia.