While San Diego’s GLBT community and its allies rejoiced at the failure of the Federal Marriage Amendment in the Senate last week, many civil rights activists urged heightened vigilance as marriage equality opponents promised the introduction of a similar measure in the House, and the possible reintroduction of the FMA onto the Senate floor looms in the near future.

Dale Kelley Bankhead, co-chair of San Diegans Against Marriage Discrimination, a local collaboration that was formed to fight the FMA, said the defeat of the proposed amendment that said marriage “shall consist only of a man and a woman,” is a victory for families.

“It’s also a testament to the fact that the American people and their representatives in the Senate saw this for what it really was, which is an attempt to amend the Constitution to restrict the rights of one group of people solely for the purpose of scoring political points in an election year,” Bankhead said. “Frankly, that’s contemptible and un-American.”

Six Republicans joined 43 Democrats and one independent in defeating the proposed amendment, while 48 senators voted to advance it.

“The Senate’s vote is simply a reflection of and responsive to a majority of Americans who, time after time and poll after poll, have indicated that they are not in favor of this divisive amendment, and they’re not in favor of wedge politics,” said Richard Valdez, chair of The Center’s board of directors and an SDAMD co-chair. “So we’re really delighted that the Senate came out as they did last week.”

The FMA went to a procedural vote on July 14 on the Senate floor. The Democrats were attempting a filibuster, which means they debate the measure indefinitely; Senate rules contain no motion to force a vote – a vote can only occur once debate ends. Supporters of the FMA needed 60 votes to end the filibuster, called a cloture vote, but fell short by 12 votes.

Eleven states will put FMAs on the ballot in November, and conservatives have vowed to use the July 14 Senate outcome as ammunition in the upcoming elections, the Associated Press reported.

“It’s not clear whether they think they can actually win this,” Bankhead said. “But they’re being very clear that they want to have Democrats in particular in difficult elections, as well as, of course, the presidential nominee, John Kerry, go on the record on this issue, so that they can use it as a wedge, and I don’t think it’s going to work.”

Bankhead pointed to the polls that show the majority of voters, though they oppose same-sex marriage by a narrow margin, also oppose a federal constitutional amendment banning them.

“People are pretty smart – they can see through these political smoke screens,” she said.

Republicans are working to contain the progression towards legalizing same-sex marriages by advancing Defense of Marriage Act legislation in the House that would ensure that federal courts are unable to order states to recognize out-of-state same-sex marriages. Sen. Wayne Allard and Rep. Marilyn Musgrave, both Colorado Republicans, sponsored the measure.

“The leadership in the House has said that they’ll bring it to a vote in September or October, right before the November election, again for purely political purposes,” Bankhead said. “So from our point of view, the fight’s not over.”

SDAMD has been generating opposition to the FMA and similar legislation through public education, and urging San Diegans to communicate their opposition to their representatives in Congress.

“In the period of time after we knew the vote in the Senate was going to take place, we focused particularly on getting high-profile support; and most notably, mayoral candidate Ron Roberts came out against the amendment, as did the San Diego Union-Tribune,” Bankhead said. “We will just continue reaching out and gathering as many endorsements as we can, and communicating that to our congressional delegation and our senators so that when it comes time to vote, those representatives will know how San Diego feels.”

Since San Diego is considered a swing area in terms of conservative and liberal voting patterns, Bankhead said having high-profile individuals and organizations voice their opposition to the FMA helps create a comfort zone for swing voters to oppose the amendment and other anti-GLBT legislation.

“We continue to rally the troops and get as many people out there and on record in opposition as possible,” Valdez said, adding that SDAMD is focusing on writing to as many congressional representatives as possible, even those like Congressmembers Bob Filner and Susan Davis who have already gone on record in opposition to a federal marriage amendment. “It’s important that our congressional representatives know that we’re out there, because certainly the other side is going to be contacting them as well.”

In related news, the California courts in the next few weeks will be hearing oral arguments against AB 205, the Domestic Partner Rights and Responsibilities Act, and the California Supreme Court is expected to rule on the validity of the gender-neutral marriage licenses issued in San Francisco in February and March by the end of the summer.