Yesterday, the state senator from South Philadelphia, who is nearing retirement and faces trial on public-corruption charges, said he would propose legislation to "outlaw the dissolution of most marriages in Pennsylvania."

Last month, Fumo suggested that most Pennsylvania state legislators would vote to make slavery legal if they could cast their ballots anonymously.

At the end of April, Fumo also announced that he and others would propose starting from scratch in deciding where to locate two casinos now planned for the Delaware River waterfront.

Fumo himself has been divorced twice.

"In my view, there is no greater threat to families and to marriage than the high divorce rate in our society," Fumo said.

But his anti-divorce measure really is aimed at defending the gay community from a proposed "marriage amendment" to the state constitution. The amendment would ban same-sex marriage and civil unions.

The marriage-amendment's backers say it's not discriminatory, but aims to protect the "sanctity of the marital institution."

The marriage-amendment bill was tabled yesterday.

Fumo says the amendment would "embed discrimination" within the constitution.

In response, he said he'll suggest that divorce be banned except in cases such as "malicious" desertion or "intolerable" conditions.

Fumo, a Democrat, decided to retire after a recent heart attack. *