By Matt Sepic, KWMU
St. Louis, MO – Both of Missouri's U.S. Senators support a proposed constitutional ban on same-sex marriage.
Senators in Washington have been debating whether to change the U.S. Constitution to define marriage.
Opponents of a federal constitutional ban on same-sex marriage are trying to block it from coming to a vote in the U.S. Senate.
Missouri Senators Kit Bond and Jim Talent support the measure.
Talent, a republican, says it's a matter of preserving one of society's oldest institutions.
"Courts of this country are engaged in a process by which they are going to force the people of this country, whether they like it or not, to accept a fundamental change in a basic building block of our society," said Talent.
Voters in Missouri will decide on a similar state measure on August third.
Gay rights groups say the proposals are discriminatory.