GOP lawmaker breaks ranks, votes conscience
Richland Republican believes same-sex ban is discriminatory
By Gary Heinlein / Detroit News Lansing Bureau
LANSING ― With a momentous vote approaching, Rep. Lorence Wenke agonized Tuesday over his bedrock conservatism and what life's experiences had done to challenge those views.
He believes marriage should be between a man and a woman. But he had watched as a childhood friend was pressured into a disastrous marriage, with children, followed by divorce. The friend, now openly gay, married his partner last year in Canada. And Wenke also felt guilty about not helping another minority ― blacks ― battle for their civil rights.
In the end, Wenke, from the small mid-Michigan town of Richland, was one of only three Republicans voting against a proposal that would have given Michiganians the right to vote on a constitutional amendment banning gay marriages.
Wenke's struggle illustrates the social cross-currents in Tuesday's vote, which fell short of the two-thirds majority needed to move the measure toward a statewide election issue. He was a key player in the defeat, going with his conscience, against his party.
"I do not support gay marriage," said the 60-year-old rookie lawmaker who graduated from a Christian high school. "I do, however, support the creation and recognition of a legal arrangement between same-sex couples. Clearly, the intent of this amendment is to make sure homosexuals don't get the same benefits as others."
American Family Association of Michigan leader Gary Glenn said as a result of the vote, Wenke will almost certainly face a Republican challenger in the August primary, perhaps former state Rep. Jerry Vander Roest of Galesburg.