78S20116 RVH-D

By:  Chisum                                                     H.C.R. No. 3  



CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
	WHEREAS, The Defense of Marriage Act was approved in a 
bipartisan effort by 342 members of the United States House of 
Representatives in the 104th Congress, including eight cosponsors 
from the Texas delegation to the congress; in fact, bipartisan 
support for the act extended to the United States Senate where 85 
members, including both senators from Texas, voted for its passage; 
and
	WHEREAS, The legislation, signed into law by the president in 
September 1996, established a federal definition of "marriage" as 
only a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife 
and defined "spouse" to mean only a person of the opposite sex who 
is a husband or wife; and
	WHEREAS, Similar legislation is now before the 108th 
Congress; House Joint Resolution 56 proposes an amendment to the 
Constitution of the United States to provide that marriage shall 
consist only of the union of a man and a woman and to prohibit the 
U.S. Constitution, the constitution of any state, or any state or 
federal law, to be construed to require that marital status or the 
legal incidents thereof be conferred on unmarried couples or 
groups; and
	WHEREAS, This proposed constitutional amendment would 
constitutionally guarantee what is explicitly provided for in the 
United States Code as a result of the passage of the Defense of 
Marriage Act in 1996; now, therefore, be it
	RESOLVED, That the 78th Legislature of the State of Texas, 
2nd Called Session, respectfully encourage the Congress of the 
United States to enact House Joint Resolution 56, proposing an 
amendment to the Constitution of the United States relating to 
marriage; and, be it further
	RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official 
copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to 
the speaker of the house of representatives and the president of the 
senate of the United States Congress, and to all the members of the 
Texas delegation to the congress with the request that this 
resolution be officially entered in the Congressional Record as a 
memorial to the Congress of the United States of America.