No one knows where the plovers will go in 2007, but officials at the Cape Cod National Seashore are working on contingency plans to help avoid a total closure of the park’s off-road vehicle corridor in Provincetown and Truro, an event that made 2006 less than peachy for those who like to explore Cape beaches the four-wheeled way.

An ORV subcommittee of the Seashore’s advisory commission has drafted several recommendations for the upcoming season, many of them stemming from public comments and suggestions on the matter received at a Dec. 9 meeting and workshop. Those recommendations would be contingent on similar plover-related beach closures occurring during 2007. Among the recommendations:

- Open ORV access at High Head north and south before the normal July 1 and July 21 opening dates.

- Permit daytime ORV access to Coast Guard Beach in Truro before June 30.

- Permit ORV access to Herring Cove north before June 30.

- Consider permitting self-contained vehicles to park overnight at Race Point Beach and Head of the Meadow parking lots before June 30.

- Continue to make the Pilgrim Heights and the Province Lands Visitor Center parking lots available to self-contained vehicles (as was done during the 2006 ORV closure).

- As in 2006, waive day use beach entrance fees for ORV permit holders at Herring Cove, Race Point and Head of the Meadow beaches if a total ORV closure becomes necessary.

‘’The park is somewhat stuck between a rock and a hard place,’’ said Edgar Francis III of Truro, who chaired the ORV subcommittee. ‘’In some ways, they are the victim of their own success.’’

That hard place - the park’s compliance with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s piping plover recovery plan - has become a harder place in recent years, because more plovers are on the beach, requiring larger swaths of sand to be closed.

When Fish and Wildlife placed the Atlantic piping plover on the federal list of endangered and threatened wildlife in 1986, some 550 piping plover pairs nested along the Atlantic coast from Maine to North Carolina. By 2005, the piping plover population had grown to more than 1,400 pairs. In 1985, Seashore personnel found 18 pairs of plovers, a number that had grown to more than 90 in 2002.

‘’I’m not preaching the end of the world here, but if we have another closure like 2006, local businesses are going to be affected,’’ said Richard Wood, owner of Nelson’s Bait and Tackle in Provincetown. ‘’My business suffered dramatically.’’ Wood said he would like the Seashore to consider opening other access points to the corridor to allow tourists and fishermen to enjoy the outer beach.

‘’Anything that opens up any part of the beach is a positive,’’ Wood said. ‘’But what they’re talking about is a very small percentage.’’

Park officials plan to review the recommendations this winter through an environmental assessment process that will include more opportunities for public input.

But, reminded Seashore superintendent George Price, ‘’these changes do not guarantee that a total ORV closure can be avoided in 2007.’’

Hoping to placate irate off-road vehicle permit holders, the Cape Cod National Seashore proposed three options for helping keep them on the beach during piping plover nesting season.

Access to local beaches was severely curtailed early this past summer, including two weeks in late June and early July when the beaches were completely closed to ORV drivers, who had paid $150 for a seasonal permit. Seashore officials predicted that beach closures next summer could continue and are trying to develop a back-up plan that will keep stretches of beach open to ORV drivers.

“Is it possible to have total closure in 2007? Yes. Hopefully, these alternatives will get us to a better place in ’07 than ’06,” said Steve Prokop, chief ranger for the Cape Cod National Seashore.

The three options include opening up access to Coast Guard Beach in Truro for ORV day use; opening up access at High Head south to Head of the Meadow prior to the normal July 1 opening day; and opening up access at High Head north to Exit 8 prior to the regular July 21 opening day.

In addition, in the event of near or total closure to ORVs, those with ORV permits will be allowed free entry to beach parking lots at Race Point, Herring Cove and Head of the Meadow. Also, overnight access for self-contained vehicle pass holders will be provided at the Province Lands Visitors Center and Pilgrim Heights during an SCV closure.

If the piping plover nests force a total closure of the local beaches – defined as limiting access to a half-mile stretch or less – only one of the three primary proposed options would kick in, not all three. But even the alternatives have limitations, Prokop said.

“One caveat is if there is nesting activity, all bets are off,” he said. “The Park Service by law must honor the [piping plover] recovery plan.”

The overflow crowd at Saturday’s public hearing had no specific objections to the proposed options. However, tempers flared again over the concept of any restrictions at all. The passionate audience, many members of which have fished and camped on local beaches their entire lives, implored park officials to reconsider the need for a plover recovery plan, which has been in existence at the Seashore since 1998, when ORV drivers, environmentalists and the Park Service finished negotiating a set of rules that restrict beach access during the plover nesting season, which can last until July 22.

Instead of triggering the corridor access restrictions for drivers, one attendee suggested, why not restrict where the birds can nest?

“Is there any way we can make spots for us instead of the birds?” asked Joe Mele. “What about the endangered humans act?

The piping plover, which is on the endangered species list, has been the target of a recovery plan in New England for a decade. While other areas report success, only the National Seashore has met the targeted productivity rates. Since 1985, when there were 18 plover pairs in the park, the population has grown to 73 pairs in 2005, according to Carrie Phillips, chief of natural resources for the Seashore.

“We’ve been doing good in New England but we’re going to have to sustain that,” she said.

Sustaining recovery efforts, however, was not the objective of most of the attendees at Saturday’s public hearing. Tom Murphy, who was on the original negotiated rule-making committee, formed in 1995, urged the audience to reopen the rule-making.

“We didn’t have clear enough heads on the last one. We didn’t understand the rules. First of all, we need to address the dumb decision to designate a plover nesting area,” he said, to applause from the overflow audience. “We can’t be talked down to like we’re senseless, mindless villains. We know how to run this beach.”

Other attendees said they were worried about the loss of revenue to local businesses, such as tackle, ice and provision shops, when the beaches are closed. Many of the ORV and SCV permit holders have been vacationing in the area for generations, said Patrick Patrick, president of the Provincetown Chamber of Commerce.

“We’re going to lose these families permanently. We’re going to lose an integral piece for the park and so will local business,” he said, adding, “Just like we need to keep the plovers, we need to keep these people.”

Additional ideas were made to the Seashore’s ORV subcommittee members, sponsors of the public hearing, who said they will take feedback from Saturday’s public hearing and make a recommendation to the National Seashore Advisory Committee, which, in turn, will make a recommendation to Seashore Supt. George Price.

ORV permit holder Tony Chiarappo said the Park Service should consider extending the ORV season past its traditional Sept. 1 closing date, when the plovers and tourists are gone.

“We can live with the birds. But when they’re gone, why can’t we use the beach?” he said.

Speaking in favor of protecting the plovers was Provincetown resident Sandra Larsen, who thanked park officials for their enforcement of the plover protection program.

“Your efforts are an inspiration to the generations to come, teaching the lessons that others have lost sight of in their pursuit of recreation which comes at a cost too high to pay,” she said. “Thank you for taking an unpopular stance and please do not yield to those who cannot see that your demonstration of respect for the existence of the plover exemplifies a most profound respect for the rest of us.”

They both wore black to their wedding, black wetsuits that is.

As about 300 swimmers prepared to cross the 1.4-mile watery divide between Long Point and Provincetown Harbor yesterday, Kathryn Rafter, 53, and Francey Beall, 44, exchanged wedding vows. No sooner had the newlyweds completed their nuptials than they zipped up their wetsuits and dove in.

‘’We’ve done the swim for seven years, and we’ve been together for seven years,’’ said Rafter, who lives in Provincetown and Dallas, Texas. ‘’And there’s not a better place in the world to start our journey together.’’

It was one of many touching moments in the 19 years the Provincetown Swim for Life & Paddler Flotilla has been churning up the harbor raising money for Cape Cod nonprofits.

Started by local artist Jay Critchley in 1988 as an AIDS benefit when the epidemic was overwhelming Provincetown, the event has raised around $2 million collectively, he said.

The first year one of the swimmers, Chucky Vetter, made it about 1,000 feet before his strength gave out. He died about a year later from AIDS, Critchley said.

Six years ago, Barbara Punis, who uses a wheelchair because of back problems, began swimming in a pool in a hotel near the Swim for Life event. It takes 124 laps, but each year since she has completed the 1.4-mile journey.

‘’It’s a personal challenge,’’ Punis said yesterday.

This year, a Brookline mother, Susan Austrian, and her 13-year-old son, Matthew, trained together all summer and completed the swim. Matthew was the youngest swimmer.

‘’He doesn’t consider himself an athlete at all, and he’s terrified of jellyfish, so he really had to overcome a lot,’’ said Susan, as Matthew received a round of applause at the Mermaid Brunch, the feast that ends the swim each year.

A Provincetown father and daughter team, Shawn McNulty and Nicole, raised $10,460 in pledges.

But the top pledge collectors were the newlyweds, Rafter and Beall, who brought in $13,035.

The fastest swimmer was Dan Guerrera of New York City, who crossed the finish line in 29 minutes. Pledges amounted to an estimated $150,000, about level with recent years, Critchley said.

Wearing a stuffed tiger tied atop his straw hat, Critchley used a microphone to direct hundreds of cheerleaders, lifeguards, kayakers, swimmers and volunteers during yesterday’s blissful event.

‘’Thank you swimmers for making Provincetown a priority in your lives,’’ he said.

Perhaps the bliss was most acutely felt by the recently married couple, who said the swim was a metaphor for their wedding.

‘’We haven’t trained for either,’’ Rafter said. ‘’But it’s been a lifetime of training for both.’’

For more information go to http://www.Swim4Life.org

There is growing tension between Provincetown and the “fifth town” of the Outer Cape. That fifth town is Cape Cod National Seashore, and the town of Provincetown wants more of a say in how the park operates within the town’s borders.

“It’s disturbing to not have the Park Service make use of the tools to work out problems before it becomes a contentious issue,” said Alix Ritchie, a member of Provincetown’s National Seashore General Management Plan Advisory Committee.

It was Ritchie who coined the term the “fifth town.” And she, along with other committee members Kerry Adams and John Thomas, expressed disappointment over what they see is a lack of communication on the part of the Seashore in regard to the closure of the ORV corridor and the handling of the dune shacks. As part of creating the General Management Plan, it was the understanding of the committee members that the park would not make unilateral decisions, but rather consult townspeople through public hearings and work with the committee to draft a plan or response to a certain issue together. Seashore Superintendent George Price said he thought that was largely done with the drafting of the GMP in the first place.
“We did not think that collaboration ends with just establishing rules,” said Ritchie. “We can come together in a collaborative way rather than throw your hands in the air and say there is nothing we can do.”
The piping plover issue
Ritchie’s comments at a meeting Monday night were in large part a response to Price’s explanation as to why so much of the ORV corridor was closed this year due to the protection of the piping plover.
“There is no law guaranteeing ORV access,” said Price. “But there is a law requiring the park to protect the birds.”
Price said he knew it was a controversial decision to have such widespread closures. But the park is bound by federal and state laws to protect the plovers. He did add that he did not want to “hide behind the law” as the response to protect the birds was drafted by him and the park staff. There are no explicit instructions from the state or federal government as to how to protect the birds, just that it needs to be done. And that is where many angry and frustrated business owners and residents say there is room for compromise.
Price disagreed, saying that he and his staff reviewed every possible option.
“Compromise is a human term,” said Price. “If you have compromise on one side, you have dead birds on the other.”
But Ritchie and other committee members later said that if they had at least been part of the process they might have felt better about the decision. Instead, they learned of the closures through newspaper reports.

Dune shack controversy

Provincetown residents are also upset over the impending eviction of Peter Clemons and Marianne Benson from a dune shack they have used for more than 30 years. The Fowler Shack was owned by Laura Fowler, who died in January. She had an agreement with the Seashore that upon her death ownership passed to the Park Service. Clemons and Benson, who are married, were caretakers for years under an agreement with Fowler because they owned another shack close by.

“In this case, there really is no dispute on a right to access or not a right,” said Price. He said there was a clear agreement between Fowler and the Seashore. But he recognizes the sensitivity of the issue.
“If I were a heartless bureaucrat, I wouldn’t have called myself to talk to them about it,” said Price.
The eviction date is set for Sept. 4.
Thomas said no decision regarding the dune shacks should be made right in the middle of the ethnographic study being conducted to see if those who use the shacks qualify as a distinct cultural group. Regardless of what the study finds, many in Provincetown already believe that the dune shack dwellers are a distinct cultural group of friends and family that goes back for generations.
“What do they have to prove is my only question,” said Richard Olson, asking a somewhat rhetorical question pointing to the self-evident nature of the dune shack culture.
The selectmen and advisory committee implored Price to meet with the Provincetown ORV and dune shack subcommittee to begin more productive and thorough talks, to which Price agreed.

By Adrienne P. Samuels, Globe Staff

Town leaders here are holding a public meeting today to air concerns about slurs and bigoted behavior. And this time, they say, it’s gay people who are displaying intolerance.

Police say they logged numerous complaints of straight people being called ``breeders” by gays over the July Fourth holiday weekend. Jamaican workers reported being the target of racial slurs. And a woman was verbally accosted after signing a petition that opposed same-sex marriage, they said.

The town, which prizes its reputation for openness and tolerance, is taking the concerns seriously, though police say they do not consider the incidents hate crimes.

``Hate language is usually the early-warning signal that could lead to hate-motivated violence,” Town Manager Keith Bergman said. ``And before that happens, we try to nip it in the bud.”

Gays have coexisted fairly peacefully alongside other residents in this community on Cape Cod’s tip, home to a long-established Portuguese fishing colony.

Provincetown was recently re-certified for its ``No Place for Hate” designation by the AntiDefamation League, which worked with the town on tolerance issues in the 1990s after gays experienced some problems. But the town’s ``No Place for Hate” group, set up to address incidents of bigotry, hasn’t met in years.

``We have not had problems in a long time,” police Staff Sergeant Warren Tobias said. ``I don’t necessarily view this as a big problem, but it’s certainly a blip on our radar screen.”

Along the main shopping street and the wharf, residents of this 3,400-person town—which swells to some 30,000 over the summer—say tensions are rising in part because of strong feelings about same-sex marriage.

``I’ve been here for eight years, and I think in that time the population has changed a bit and there is a little less tolerance,” said Simply Silver store owner Bill Mitchell, 53, who said he is gay. ``There has been a little more tension.”

Meanwhile, Jamaicans say the intensifying debate over immigration is making racial issues worse.

Winsome Karr, 45, originally from Jamaica, has worked in town since 2002. Lately, she said, the off-color comments stem from gay visitors who mistakenly believe that all Jamaicans share the views of an island religious sect that disagrees with homosexuality.

Karr’s strong accent reveals her Jamaican roots.

``After a while people from here get used to you, and it changes,” said Karr, who works at a Tedeschi Food Shop not far from Commercial Street. ``It’s just because of the image that gay people have of Jamaicans. People—no matter who they are—get defensive of their lifestyle.”

On same-sex marriage, the clashes have occurred as the state Legislature grapples with whether the electorate should vote on a measure to limit marriage to heterosexuals. A group that supports gay marriage, knowthyneighbor, has created a website displaying the names of more than 100,000 signers of a petition that calls for the state Constitution to be amended to prohibit same-sex marriage.

A public information meeting will be held July 18, 5 to 7 p.m. at the Province Lands Visitor Center in Provincetown to update the status of the off-road vehicle beach closures necessitated by piping plover activity within the Cape Cod National Seashore.

The purpose of the meeting is to review current conditions and the events that led to the closure of the Off-Road Vehicle corridor. According to Superintendent George Price, “I am interested in hearing from folks that were impacted by the closures. I am hoping that the meeting will help assist Seashore managers, off-road vehicle users, and the community to work together on this important issue.”

The piping plovers are a threatened species. Plover management at the Seashore currently follows the guidelines developed by the US Fish and Wildlife Service and the Piping Plover Recovery Team in 1996.

Current oversand corridor information is available 24-hours a day on a prerecorded message line and can be accessed by calling 508-487-3698. As soon as sections of the corridor reopen this message line will be updated.

For more information, contact Steve Prokop, chief ranger of Cape Cod National Seashore, at 508-349-3785, ext. 213.

For decades Provincetown has been one of the nation’s most tolerant communities, making it popular with gays.

But now, according to the town’s police chief, gays are showing disturbing signs themselves of intolerance and he wants to address it before the situation escalates.

Chief Ted Meyer tells the Cape Cod Times that he has received complaints of gay people calling straights ‘’breeders’’ as well as racial epithets directed at Jamaican workers and a verbal attack directed at a resident who signed an anti-gay-marriage petition.

Meyer acknowledges that the complaints number only a handful and than none of them constitute hate crimes but he is nonetheless concerned.

‘’We don’t have hate crimes, but we do have hate and nasty comments,’’ Meyer told the Times.

‘’We’ve got gay guys yelling out to straight people, ‘you breeders coming here and bothering us,’ and that sort of stuff. So it’s kind of a reverse discrimination. And they worked so hard to prevent that from happening to gay folks in town.’’

Meyer said that he is determined to insure the incidents don’t escalate. He’s has called a public meeting of the town’s ‘’No Place for Hate’’ committee. The meeting will take place Friday afternoon.

In one incident, detailed to the Times by Meyer, a woman who signed an anti-gay-marriage petition was verbally accosted last week by a man ‘’who was screaming about her being a bigot.’’

That man was Rick Hines, publisher of Provincetown Magazine. He has expressed regret but says “how would you feel if you were discriminated against on a daily basis?’’

‘’If you were treated as a second-class citizen? If you were told you can’t get married because of who you’re with, by your neighbors? And then you run into someone, who you know sees you as a second-class citizen, someone who is trying to stop you from having a normal life together.”

Meyer said he believes the push for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage in Massachusetts has acerbated the situation and he said he’s hoping to keep a lid on things. 

The proposed regulations, filed Friday by the National Marine Fisheries Service, call for a speed limit of 10 knots, about 11.5 mph, for vessels 65 feet or longer in certain areas when North Atlantic right whales are active.

“At that speed a collision is less likely to be lethal,” agency spokeswoman Teri Frady said.
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About 300 right whales live in the Northern Hemisphere. They have been listed as endangered since 1970.

“Reducing serious injuries and deaths among right whales due to ship collisions will allow more of these rare animals to reach maturity and to reproduce. That’s a key factor for recovery,” Fisheries Service Director Bill Hogarth said in a statement. “We believe the measures proposed here will make U.S. East Coast waters safer for right whales.”

Ship strikes are responsible for about half of all known, human-caused deaths of the mammals, which tend to swim near the water’s surface and often don’t notice their surroundings when they eat, according to the fisheries service.

Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, a group that has urged speed limits, praised the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which oversees the Fisheries Service.

“This welcome step is long overdue,” PEER staffer Kyla Bennett, said in a statement where she added that NOAA overcame opposition from both the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard. “NOAA deserves congratulations for doing the right thing in the face of stiff resistance. This action will, hopefully, be in time to save the remaining population.”

The speed limit was among recommendations made by retired Coast Guard Cmdr. Bill Russell in 2001 in a report published for the federal government on reducing ship strikes. “I’m encouraged that they’re finally doing something,” Russell said.

After a public-comment period, the fisheries service will make a recommendation to the secretary of commerce, who makes the final decision.

In the whales’ nursery grounds off southern Georgia and northern Florida, the mandatory speed limit would apply from Nov. 15 through April 15. Along their mid-Atlantic migratory route from northern Georgia to Rhode Island, the restriction would begin Nov. 1 and end April 30.

interactive
• A look at some of the more popular whales
Off the Massachusetts coast, where right whales feed from January through July, restrictions would be implemented in Cape Cod Bay from Jan. 1 through mid-May; off Race Point at the northern end of Cape Cod from March 1 through April 30 and the Great South Channel from April 1 through July 21.

Federal vessels would be excluded.

For thousands of lotion-lubed drivers over sand, the meccas of Cape Cod are going off limits.

The off-road vehicle destinations also are maternity wards for endangered piping plovers.

In what are being called unprecedented closures on multiple fronts, many of the Lower Cape’s ocean beaches have been, or will soon be, closed to off-road vehicle traffic to protect the bird.

For the first time ever, all vehicle access to the Cape Cod National Seashore’s off-road vehicle corridor has been temporarily closed to protect piping plovers. The approximately 8-mile lane runs from Race Point Light in Provincetown to Longnook Beach in Truro. The Seashore sells 3,000 annual and 400 weekly permits for access, which could be closed for three to four weeks.

Last week, police closed most of Chatham’s portion of Nauset Beach to traffic - south of Trail 7 - for an undetermined amount of time.

And Wednesday night, Orleans officials announced they’ll soon close the entire south end of Nauset Beach because two plover nests were found in the area. Orleans’ ORV corridor along Nauset, called the Outer Beach, will be closed from the time eggs hatch - sometime between June 21 and June 25 - until the chicks fledge or move out, which could take a month.

‘’This is a very big deal,’’ said Paul Fulcher, Orleans parks and beaches superintendent. ‘’The last thing you want to do is shut down a recreational area that thousands and thousands of people look forward to going to every year.’’

The town’s hands are tied, Fulcher said, because they must adhere to stringent state and federal endangered species laws.

Vacationers upset

‘’This is like pulling the rug right out from under my summer vacation,’’ said Tony Dawes of Los Angeles, who has frequented the Outer Beach for years in early July with his brother and nephews.

‘’The Fourth of July is magical out there, but I guess they put the kaputz on that.’’

Parts of the Seashore and Nauset Beach usually close each year to protect the shorebird, but there usually has been a designated trail that ORV drivers could use to detour around the nesting plovers.

Not this year.

‘’The birds have a fair degree of tolerance, and we set up safety buffers for vehicles while they’re on nests,’’ said Carrie Phillips, the Seashore’s chief of natural resources. ‘’But once they hatch and we have chicks, the concern becomes about the possibility of a chick getting run over, so the buffers that we put around the areas where the chicks are get significantly bigger.’’

This time, those bigger buffers linked together in ways that made a complete ORV shutdown necessary.

Word of the closures yesterday stunned dozens of off-road vehicle drivers, especially those who have frequented the Outer Beach for decades.

The 8-mile Nauset Beach that runs from Orleans to Chatham is a crown jewel, drawing more than 1 million people a year. Orleans sells about 6,000 ORV permits generating about $400,000 in annual revenue. Now the beach can only be accessed on foot.

‘Cotton balls on toothpicks’

Erosion over the past few years has for the first time forced the closure of the entire width of Nauset Beach after piping plover chicks have hatched, said Scott Melvin, senior zoologist at the state Division of Fisheries and Wildlife, who coordinates plover conservation efforts.

Plover chicks - which he described as ‘’cotton balls on toothpicks’’ - leave the nest within hours of hatching then scramble to the water’s edge for food.

For about 35 days after hatching, chicks can run mad-cap all over the beach, making them vulnerable to vehicles, Melvin said. The erosion at Nauset has narrowed the beach, meaning the chicks can move back and forth across the entire beach from the shoreline of the open ocean to Pochet Inlet to the west, Melvin said.

Robert Prescott, director of Massachusetts Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary, said Nauset has been the most under-performing beach for plover nesting pairs across the Northeast this year.

‘’The piping plover is telling us something. Either we’re mismanaging the beach, there are too many people (using it), or there is something else (at work),’’ he said.

Those who own camps along the Outer Beach in Orleans will have to boat or walk to their properties, while Chatham camp owners will need an escort to drive on a pre-designated path.

While Orleans is planning for the closures, Fulcher said the nests are still susceptible to predators and other external factors.

Closures come with cost

The closures pose a threat to Orleans’ town coffers. Fulcher said the town could be out $125,000 if fewer people buy permits this year.

Area businesses, too, could lose money if people are forced to stay away from a very popular section of Nauset Beach in the height of summer.

Steve Burd, co-owner of Eldia Marketplace and Coffeehouse, said he depends on Nauset visitors who pick up snacks and drinks before and after their beach excursions.

‘’That beach is what I live for, and to take that away is unbelievable,’’ said Tony Stetzko, a commercial surf fisherman, who added the Outer Beach is a key source of his income.

Stetzko said the town should investigate more equitable beach management techniques, such as increased fencing or hiring full-time staff to guide traffic away from nests.

Others - including out-of-towners who paid $180 for a Nauset ORV permit - said the town’s no-refund policy is unfair.

Town officials said the possibility of closures is clearly spelled out in videos applicants are required to watch and handouts before permits are issued.

The Senate on Wednesday rejected a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, dealing a defeat to
President Bush and Republicans who hoped to use the measure to energize conservative voters on Election Day.

Supporters knew they wouldn’t achieve the two-thirds vote needed to approve a constitutional amendment, but they had predicted a majority of votes. Instead, they fell one short, 49-48.

That was one vote more than they got last time the Senate voted on the matter, in 2004.

“We were hoping to get over 50 percent, but that didn’t happen today,” said Sen. David Vitter, R-La., one of the amendment’s supporters. “Eventually, Congress is going to have to catch up to the wisdom of the American people or the American people will change Congress for the better.”

“We’re not going to stop until marriage between a man and a woman is protected,” said Sen. Sam Brownback (news, bio, voting record), R-Kan.

Wednesday’s vote fell 11 short of the 60 required to send the matter for an up-or-down tally in the Senate. The 2004 vote was 48-50.

Supporters lost three key “yes” votes. Two Republicans changed their votes from yes in 2004 to no this time: Sens. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania. The third was Sen. Chuck Hagel (news, bio, voting record), R-Neb., who did not vote this time because he was traveling with Bush.

All told, seven Republicans voted to kill the amendment. The four others were Sens. Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island, Susan Collins of Maine, John McCain of Arizona, Olympia Snowe of Maine and John Sununu of New Hampshire.

Gregg said that in 2004, he believed the Massachusetts Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage in that state would undermine the prerogatives of other states, like his, to prohibit such unions.

“Fortunately, such legal pandemonium has not ensued,” Gregg said in a statement. “The past two years have shown that federalism, not more federal laws, is a viable and preferable approach.”

A majority of Americans define marriage as a union of a man and a woman, as the proposed amendment does, according to a poll out this week by ABC News. But an equal majority opposes amending the Constitution on this issue, the poll found.

“Most Americans are not yet convinced that their elected representatives or the judiciary are likely to expand decisively the definition of marriage to include same-sex couples,” said Sen. John McCain (news, bio, voting record), R-Ariz., a possible presidential candidate in 2008. He told the Senate on Tuesday he does not support the amendment.

The tally Wednesday put the ban 18 votes short of the 67 needed for the Senate to approve a constitutional amendment.

Republicans had hoped for a better showing given their four-seat gain in the Senate after the 2004 election, with supporters predicting more than 50 votes in favor of sending the measure for an up-or-down vote, called cloture.

Asked whether Bush could have done more than voicing his support for the measure in recent days, Brownback replied, “He could have done more, but he doesn’t have a vote in this one.”

Sen. Wayne Allard (news, bio, voting record), R-Colo., acknowledged supporters of the amendment never were sure how the votes would fall Wednesday.

“We have never really, I don’t think, got a real hard grip on the cloture vote,” Allard told reporters. “Since the last election we had, we figured we would know where everybody was.”

But the defeat is by no means the amendment’s last stand, said its supporters.

“I do not believe the sponsors are going to fall back and cry about it,” said Sen. Orrin Hatch (news, bio, voting record), R-Utah. “I think they are going to keep bringing it up.”

The House plans a redux next month, said Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio.

“This is an issue that is of significant importance to many Americans,” Boehner told reporters. “We have significant numbers of our members who want a vote on this, so we are going to have a vote.”

The defeat came despite daily appeals for passage from Bush, whose standing is troubled by sagging poll numbers and a dissatisfied conservative base.

The
Vatican also added muscle to the argument Tuesday, naming gay marriage as one of the factors threatening the traditional family as never before.

Democrats said the debate was a divisive political ploy.

“The Republican leadership is asking us to spend time writing bigotry into the Constitution,” said Sen. Edward Kennedy (news, bio, voting record) of Massachusetts, which legalized gay marriage in 2003. “A vote for it is a vote against civil unions, against domestic partnership, against all other efforts for states to treat gays and lesbians fairly under the law.”

In response, Hatch fumed: “Does he really want to suggest that over half of the United States Senate is a crew of bigots?”

Forty-five of the 50 states have acted to define traditional marriage in ways that would ban same-sex marriage — 19 with constitutional amendments and 26 with statutes.

The amendment would prohibit states from recognizing same-sex marriages. To become ratified, it would need two-thirds support in the Senate and House, and then would have to be ratified by at least 38 state legislatures.

Ben Nelson of Nebraska, the only Democratic senator who supports the amendment, voted “yes.” The only other Democrat to vote in favor of moving forward with an up-or-down vote Wednesday, Robert Byrd of West Virginia, opposes the amendment itself.

Three senators did not vote: Democrats Christopher Dodd of Connecticut and John Rockefeller of West Virginia, and Republican Chuck Hagel of Nebraska.