One asks the 216th General Assembly to support the Federal Marriage Amendment which has been introduced before the U.S. Congress and which states that “Marriage in the United States shall consist only of the union of a man and a woman.”
Another asks the PC(USA) to “reject any proposed amendment to the federal Constitution that would prohibit the marriage of same-gender persons” and asks Congress to recognize state laws allowing same-gender marriages.
A third wants the Assembly to instruct the Board of Pensions to explore providing “domestic partners in long-term committed relationships the same benefits accorded to married couples” and to report the findings back to the Assembly in 2006.
Other resolutions related to issues lately in the international news. A resolution, responding to the abuse of prisoners in Iraq, was submitted asking the Assembly to “condemn in the strongest possible terms” torture or abuse of prisoners in U.S. military custody.
There are resolutions asking for an end to travel restrictions from the United States to Cuba, to oppose the Central American Free Trade Agreement, and to set up a group to consider strategies to improve conditions for Palestinians living on the West Bank and in Gaza.
One resolution asks the Assembly to voice “concern, dismay and grief” over the murders and disappearances of hundreds of young women who have been killed or who have vanished in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, during the last 11 years.
Another expresses concern about recent budget cuts that eliminated PC(USA) staff positions working with Hispanic and Latino congregations, and asks the Assembly to direct the General Assembly Council to meet with Hispanic and Latino representatives and to consider how ministry to those groups can be achieved in light of the budget cuts. The mostly white PC(USA) has set a goal of increasing its racial-ethnic membership to 10 percent by 2010.
And some resolutions reflect concern about what Presbyterians are exposed to in the media and popular culture. One wants to create a “Media Committee” to come up with a list of television programs, movies, video games, music and “other media” that are ‘considered violent or with inappropriate sexual content so Presbyterians can complain about them or even boycott them. And another wants the Assembly to affirm that one of the ends of the church is “preservation of the truth,” and to declare that the novel, The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown, contains distortions that can weaken people’s faith. 
