'Gay' Marriage Pushed to Center of US Political Debate

 

Stephanie Ho

Recent developments on both U.S. coasts have pushed the issue of marriage between two people of the same sex into American headlines. Authorities in San Francisco have officially married hundreds of gay and lesbian couples since Thursday. At the same time, lawmakers in Massachusetts failed to agree on an amendment¹ to the state constitution that would have defined marriage exclusively as a union between a man and a woman.
Drivers honking³ their support added to the party atmosphere in front of San Francisco's City Hall - where for the past few days, hundreds of same-sex couples have waited in line for hours to take their marriage vows⁴ and get official papers recognizing their union.
City mayor Gavin Newsom launched a campaign Thursday to recognize gay and lesbian marriages, as a direct challenge to California state laws that ban such same-sex marriage. Mayor Newsom ordered City Hall to remain open during the weekend and a national holiday Monday to cope with the unprecedented⁵ crush of marriage applicants⁶.
The Alliance Defense⁷ Fund on Friday filed a lawsuit⁸ to try to stop the gay marriages in San Francisco. A California superior court judge has scheduled a hearing on the first working day after the holiday, on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, across the country, Massachusetts lawmakers rejected an amendment to the state constitution that would have defined marriage as strictly⁹ a union between a man and a woman. State lawmakers will take up the issue again next month.
The highest Massachusetts court last year struck down a ban on gay marriage as unconstitutional, and gave the state's lawmakers until May to fix the problem.
On the CBS program Face the Nation, television and radio commentator¹⁰ James Dobson spoke¹¹ out against what he called efforts to undermine traditional heterosexual marriage around the country. Mr. Dobson especially blasted the San Francisco mayor, saying the official is going against the wishes of the majority of Californians who voted against same-sex marriage in a 2000 referendum. "What happened in California in the last few days has been an absolute outrage," he said. "I mean, the people of California passed a constitutional amendment indicating that marriage was between one man and one woman, by a 61 to 39 percent majority. And now this mayor comes along and just abrogates¹³ the law, and it is no longer rule of law."
Meanwhile, on Fox News Sunday, Democratic Massachusetts Congressman¹⁴ Barney Frank, who is homosexual, said legally recognizing gay marriages would not threaten heterosexual marriages. Congressman Frank added that same-sex couples would welcome the chance to be officially married in some states, even if their union is not recognized by all 50 U.S. states. "We had a situation in this country - we all now deplore¹⁵ it - where inter-racial marriages were allowed in some states and not recognized in other states. We have had situations where states have had differential rules on the age at which you could marry," he said.
Both houses of Congress are expected to discuss a proposed constitutional amendment banning gay marriages throughout the United States. A bill on that issue has already been introduced in the House of Representatives. Senate majority leader Bill Frist last week said the Senate will take it up soon.

注释：
lesbian [5lezbiEn] n. 女性同性恋者
amendment [E5mendmEnt] n. 修正案
exclusively [ik5sklu:sivli] adj. 唯一的
honk² [hCNk] vi. 汽车喇叭响
cope with 应付
unprecedented [Qn5presidEntid] adj. 空前的
unconstitutional [5QnkCnsti5tju:FEnEl] adj. 违反宪法的
CBS abbr. Columbia Broadcasting System（美国）哥伦比亚广播公司
commentator [5kCmenteitE] n. 实况广播员
heterosexual [7hetErEu5seksjuE] adj. 异性恋的
indicating [5indikeitiN] n. 指示，标志
abrogate¹² [5AbrEu^eit] vt. 废除（法令等）
homosexual [7hEumEu5seksjuEl] n. 同性恋
constitutional [7kCnsti5tju:FEnEl] adj. 宪法的宪法的或与宪法有关的

1 amendment   

n.改正，修正，改善，修正案

参考例句：

• The amendment was rejected by 207 voters to 143.这项修正案以207票对143票被否决。
• The Opposition has tabled an amendment to the bill.反对党已经就该议案提交了一项修正条款。

2 honk   

n.雁叫声，汽车喇叭声

参考例句：

• Don't honk the horn indiscriminately.不要乱鸣喇叭！
• While passing another vehicle,you must honk your horn.通过另一部车时必须鸣按喇叭。

3 honking   

v.（使）发出雁叫似的声音，鸣（喇叭），按（喇叭）( honk的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Cars zoomed helter-skelter, honking belligerently. 大街上来往车辆穿梭不停，喇叭声刺耳。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Flocks of honking geese flew past. 雁群嗷嗷地飞过。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

4 vows   

誓言( vow的名词复数 )； 郑重宣布，许愿

参考例句：

• Matrimonial vows are to show the faithfulness of the new couple. 婚誓体现了新婚夫妇对婚姻的忠诚。
• The nun took strait vows. 那位修女立下严格的誓愿。

5 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

6 applicants   

申请人，求职人( applicant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There were over 500 applicants for the job. 有500多人申请这份工作。
• He was impressed by the high calibre of applicants for the job. 求职人员出色的能力给他留下了深刻印象。

7 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

8 lawsuit   

n.诉讼，控诉

参考例句：

• They threatened him with a lawsuit.他们以诉讼威逼他。
• He was perpetually involving himself in this long lawsuit.他使自己无休止地卷入这场长时间的诉讼。

9 strictly   

adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地

参考例句：

• His doctor is dieting him strictly.他的医生严格规定他的饮食。
• The guests were seated strictly in order of precedence.客人严格按照地位高低就座。

10 commentator   

n.注释者，解说者；实况广播评论员

参考例句：

• He is a good commentator because he can get across the game.他能简单地解说这场比赛，是个好的解说者。
• The commentator made a big mistake during the live broadcast.在直播节目中评论员犯了个大错误。

11 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

12 abrogate   

v.废止，废除

参考例句：

• When can we abrogate the national boundaries all over the world?什么时候可以在全球取消国界？
• A government may abrogate any unfair treaties.政府可以取消任何不公平的条约。

13 abrogates   

废除（法律等）( abrogate的第三人称单数 )； 取消； 去掉； 抛开

参考例句：

14 Congressman   

n.（美）国会议员

参考例句：

• He related several anecdotes about his first years as a congressman.他讲述自己初任议员那几年的几则轶事。
• The congressman is meditating a reply to his critics.这位国会议员正在考虑给他的批评者一个答复。

15 deplore   

vt.哀叹，对...深感遗憾

参考例句：

• I deplore what has happened.我为所发生的事深感愤慨。
• There are many of us who deplore this lack of responsibility.我们中有许多人谴责这种不负责任的做法。