Beshear, Mongiardo to push a second marriage amendment

Governor-elect Steve Beshear and Lt. Gov. Dan Mongiardo took their first press conference Wednesday as an opportunity to announce that they will push for a second constitutional amendment banning gay marriage as one of their first orders of business. The pair say the first amendment, passed in 2004, which defines marriage as between a man and a woman, leaves too many loopholes and could lead to high-level sinning.

The pair reacted swiftly to some gay-baiting from former Gov. Ernie Fletcher's re-election campaign earlier this week. The Fletcher camp was sending out "robo-calls" to voters across the state reminding them that the Beshear-Mongiardo ticket had been endorsed by a gay rights group. Beshear-Mongiardo shot back swiftly, sending their own robocalls reminding voters that Beshear is married and Mongiardo, who dates a woman half his age, was a co-sponsor of the original amendment.

"We support marriage between a man and a woman — only," Beshear said. "I'll take support from wherever on the campaign trail, but when it really comes down to it, I don't like the gays. They make me uneasy."

The pair said they will sponsor another amendment that says "something to the effect of 'gays aren't welcome here in Kentucky,'" Mongiardo said. "We just want to reassure folks across the state that, you know, we support human rights, but being gay is not necessarily a human thing."