Some say it’s a moral cornerstone, others a constitutional right. But many agree that marriage is the match needed to light a fire under lukewarm conservatives.

U.S. Sen. Jim Talent, co-sponsor of the Marriage Protection Amendment, admitted it’s unlikely Republicans will have the two-thirds majority needed to pass the same-sex marriage ban after debate this week in the Senate. Talent also acknowledged that some voters in the fall will base their decisions on the issue, but he denied marriage is solely being used for political gain.

"I don’t decide when these things come up," Talent told the Tribune this morning. "It’s reasonable to bring it up at least every Congress."

Daniel Hays, president of the Mid-Missouri Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Coalition, doesn’t buy it. He thinks Talent and other Republicans facing strong Democratic challengers are using homosexuals as political pawns.

"I think it’s a way to pander to the evangelical Christian community," Hays said. "The administration is worried, based on poll numbers, that supporters are unhappy with the way they’ve led this country. This gives them some reason to come back and vote for them."

Talent’s challenger, Missouri Auditor Claire McCaskill, does not favor same-sex marriage but doesn’t think a federal ban is needed.

Talent said some state marriage laws are being legally challenged, leaving liberal courts to decide. "It’s not being left up to the states right now," he said. "I don’t think we should sit by and wait to see if the courts are going to decide it. We need to be aggressive in trying to protect the people’s rights to decide."

Hays said a constitutional ban on gay marriage would take away rights, not protect them. "It’s striking right at the heart of total equality," he said. "We hold on to the claim that the 14th Amendment does protect equal rights for all Americans."

Joe Kline, senior pastor of Faith Baptist Church in Columbia, said a federal gay marriage ban is needed to protect society. Allowing gays to marry could lead to "eventual extinction," Kline said. "It might sound crazy, and people don’t like to hear this, but gay couples cannot reproduce. Ultimately they - not in all cases, but in many cases - they don’t reproduce, so they have to recruit others to live their lifestyles. … If we don’t protect the sanctity of marriage and of the home, then our country is in big trouble."

But Hays said it would be in worse trouble if lawmakers start writing discrimination into the Constitution. "To me, the whole argument is there’s no such thing as gay rights. They’re all equal rights," he said. "Everyone deserves the same protection under the law."