A call to arms: it's no exaggeration to say that the Federal Marriage Amendment is the biggest assault on gay rights in U.S. history.

There's a strange lull in gay America right now. Strange because it presages one of the most wrenching political struggles gay Americans have ever fought. While we revel in greater cultural acceptance, in a realignment of attitudes among the younger generations, as we see openly gay men and women reach unprecedented levels of visibility and respect, 51 words should give us pause. These words could change the direction of gay rights in this country forever: "Marriage in the United States shall consist only of the union of a man and a woman. Neither this Constitution or the constitution of any state, nor state or federal law, shall be construed to require that marital status or the legal incidents thereof be conferred upon unmarried couples or groups."

These are the words of the Federal Marriage Amendment. Right now it is the main focus of activists in the religious right, who are making it their first priority in the coming months. Backed by social conservatives in the Republican Party, they hope to amend the U.S. Constitution to ban gay equality in marriage forever.

But read more closely. The amendment wouldn't simply ban equality in civil marriage, a right that is now guaranteed to murderers, child abusers, deadbeat dads, multiple divorcees, and foreigners. It would also make it unconstitutional for a state or federal law to give any benefits whatsoever to gay couples. Where do I glean that? From the words "or the legal incidents thereof." Even the weakest forms of domestic partnerships contain benefits, i.e. "legal incidents," that are also part of marriage. This amendment would make every, such benefit subject to abolition through the courts.

You think civil unions are a good idea? If this amendment passes, there will be no civil unions. Vermont and California will have to repeal their laws. You think such an amendment will be overcome by changing attitudes in time? An amendment is not a law that can be easily repealed. It becomes part of the Constitution itself, the very meaning of America. Yes, it's very hard to pass one. You need two-thirds majorities in the House and Senate as well as three quarters of the state legislatures. But crazy amendments have passed in the past--remember Prohibition? It's no exaggeration to say this is the biggest assault on gay rights in U.S. history. It would write discrimination into the Constitution; it would effectively state that gay people are not fully citizens, that our loves are anathema to the meaning of America, that we do not fully belong here and can live here only as second-class citizens.

So what are they waiting for? They are waiting for a state court--probably Massachusetts's--to come to the inexorable conclusion that excluding gay couples from civil marriage is the denial of a basic civil right. When you look at the Constitution, it is indeed hard to come to any other conclusion. The freedom to marry, according to the U.S. Supreme Court, "has long been recognized as one of the vital personal rights essential to the orderly pursuit of happiness by free men." Once you recognize that gay people are free people, that their loves are as good as straight loves, and that we do not have a meaningful right to marry when that right is restricted to members of the opposite sex, then the importance of this is hard to miss. Everything in the Constitution points toward our equality. Everything in the meaning of America demands our equal treatment under the law. That's why the hard right has to change the Constitution itself to keep us enslaved forever.

We must resist--and you have to take a stand. Talk to your coworkers and ,straight friends about your relationships; explain why this matters; write your congressman or senator, give money to the Freedom to Marry coalition. This is something that can and should transcend any of our internal debates and divisions--right, left, Democrat, Republican, gay, lesbian, white, black, transgendered, bisexual. Future gay generations will look back and see this moment as the most critical one yet for oar dignity, equality, and safety. And they will ask: What did you do in this climactic cultural war? Let us be able to answer with pride: We won it.