You may have seen in today's newspaper that the U.S. House of Representatives yesterday rejected a proposed Constitutional amendment writing discrimination against gay and lesbian couples into the U.S. Constitution. We are pleased the House followed the lead of the Senate in opposing this measure - an amendment that would have written discrimination into the U.S. Constitution for the first time in America's history.

Because of the ACLU's commitment to winning equal access to marriage benefits for gay and lesbian couples, we urge you to contact your member of the House and express your appreciation ("thanks") or disapproval ("spank") about this critical vote in Congress.

Action Needed: Take a few minutes to call or write your Representative and express your support or opposition to their vote on the discriminatory Marriage Amendment. Please remember that we need to thank our friends - even if we know they are regularly with us on this issue. If you don't know the contact information for your Representative, you can find it at http://www.house.gov/.

A list of how members of the Illinois delegation voted can be found below.

Voting for the amendment (i.e., those to be "spanked"): Jerry Costello, Tim Johnson, Ray LaHood, Don Manzullo, Dennis Hastert, Henry Hyde, John Shimkus and Jerry Weller.

Voting against the amendment (i.e., those to be "thanked"): Melissa Bean, Judy Biggert, Rahm Emanuel, Luis Gutierrez, Jesse Jackson, Jr., Mark Kirk, Bobby Rush and Jan Schakowsky.

Note: Daniel Lipinski voted "present." Danny Davis and Lane Evans did not vote.