By Carl Weiser
Enquirer Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON - Declaring that marriage faces legal threats Congress must confront, Rep. Steve Chabot announced Thursday he will have hearings on protecting traditional marriage.

The Westwood Republican said the country was in danger of having a new definition of marriage imposed upon it without the consent of the people.

He cited the marriage licenses granted to gay couples in cities in California, New York and Oregon, as well as a Massachusetts court decision legalizing gay marriage.

"The people and their elected representatives - and not a handful of rogue judges and officials - should have the right to make decisions regarding marriage policy," he said.

Chabot chairs the House Constitution subcommittee, which has jurisdiction over constitutional amendments.

President Bush has endorsed amending the Constitution to ban gay marriage - a potent but touchy issue in an election year.

Joined by GOP Rep. James Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Chabot insisted that politics played no role in their announcement.

But Democrats said the amendment clearly was being used as a "political tool," as New York Rep. Jerrold Nadler put it.

Even Democrats who would support the amendment said it's about politics.

"It's a wedge issue being used to inflame people," said state Sen. Dan Mongiardo, the Democrat running against Sen. Jim Bunning in Kentucky. He said he would probably vote for the amendment, of which Bunning is a sponsor.

Scott Knox, a Clifton lawyer who represents gay couples, said the hearings would be better off figuring out whether gay marriages were really any threat at all.

"Would having that amendment really make for stronger heterosexual marriages, or more of them?" he asked. "I'm floored that Republicans are jumping on this bandwagon to interfere with individual liberties."

In a key battleground state such as Ohio, the gay marriage issue could be a wild card in the presidential race. Exit polls from Super Tuesday's Democratic primary in Ohio showed Buckeye Democrats among the least supportive of gay marriages. Only 26 percent back such unions.

In such places as California, New York and in New England, support ranged from 41 percent to 46 percent.

Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., was one of only 14 senators to vote against the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act - a fact Sensenbrenner noted. That law, signed by President Clinton, declared that under federal law, marriage was only between a man and woman. Moreover, it said states did not have to recognize marriage licenses granted to gay couples.

Chabot, Sensenbrenner and other conservatives are worried the law may be declared unconstitutional. That would mean the only way to block gay marriage would be to amend the Constitution.

A constitutional amendment would need to be approved by two-thirds of the House and Senate and 38 state legislatures.

In Kentucky, House lawmakers voted 75-11 Tuesday in favor of a resolution that urges Congress to send to the states a constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman.

Republicans, who control the Kentucky Senate but are the minority party in the state House, support the resolution urging Congress to act. But their real push is for a separate amendment to the state's Constitution.

"A constitutional amendment is the only way we can ensure that these kinds of events will not happen here," said Senate President Pro Tem Dick Roeding, a Northern Kentucky Republican.

In Ohio, Senate President Doug White, R-Manchester, said he would help ratify an amendment if Congress acts. He said he would support it for the same reasons he supported the Defense of Marriage Act that passed in January. Gov. Bob Taft signed that bill, making Ohio the 38th state to pass such a law in recent years.

"We'll see if Washington acts," White said. "And then we'll see what the will of our citizens are when it gets out here."

House Speaker Larry Householder, R-Glenford, is undecided, spokesman Dwight Crum said.

Chabot opposes gay marriage but has not decided whether a constitutional amendment is needed.

Since he has to preside over the hearings, he's not going to prejudge the idea, he said.

"My personal view is that anything that undermines traditional marriage gives me great concern, as a husband and a father and a member of Congress," Chabot said.

The first Chabot hearing will be March 30.

Reporters Patrick Crowley and Spencer Hunt contributed.