On Capitol Hill, Senate Republicans fell short in an attempt yesterday to change the country’s constitution by adding an amendment that would ban same-sex marriage. Republicans didn’t even have enough votes to bring the measure — which President Bush had endorsed — to a vote on the floor. Democrats defeated the move 50 to 48 in a procedural vote; 12 short of the super-majority needed for it to move on to a floor vote.

The Washington-based newspaper The Hill is reporting that House Republicans are now looking for other ways to ban same-sex marriage. Options included stripping federal courts of jurisdiction over the issue, passing a federal law to define marriage and using the appropriations process to ban gay marriage in Washington D.C.

Meanwhile in Albany New York, a judge Tuesday dismissed criminal charges against two Unitarian Universalist ministers who were arrested for marrying 13 same-sex couples in March. In her ruling, the judge questioned the legality of New York’s ban on same-sex marriage.