The House of Representatives have 50,000 more petitions favoring the Federal Marriage Amendment (FMA) to consider as they prepare to vote on the proposal by the end of this week.

Martin Mawyer, president of the Christian Action Network (CAN), hand-delivered the bags of petitions to Congressmen Roscoe Bartlett (R-MD) and Walter Jones (R-NC) on Thursday, Sept. 23 at the Cannon House Office Building in Washington, D.C.

“America is at a moral and legal crossroads on marriage,” observed Mawyer of the upcoming election.

“Common sense dictates that marriage is between a man and a woman. Marriage is a legal bond between a man and woman for the purpose of giving birth and raising children. And the only reason the state has an interest in licensing marriages is to protect the legal interests of children produced through those union,” he said.

In May, CAN submitted 30,000 petitions favoring the Senate version of the FMA to Congress.

The proposed FMA(H.J. Res. 56) to appear before the House was introduced by Colorado Congresswoman Marilyn Musgrave and has 133 co-sponsors.

Supporters of the measure aim to nationally define marriage between one man and one woman on a constitutional level to thwart threat of judicial power overriding state marriage laws such as The Defense of Marriage Act. Opponents say the bill discriminates against homosexuals by not allowing them to marry.

Although the Senate version of the measure failed to make it to vote, Bartlett, along with other pro-family conservatives hope “next week's vote by the House will encourage the Senate to vote on this.”

“Marriage is the fundamental foundation for our civilization and the vast majority of Americans want Congress to protect it,” said Barlett, who believes the measure will pass.