We warned you

We warned you that homosexual unions threatened the institution of marriage. Now, men are marrying men in Massachusetts and happily married Republican legislators are getting divorced in the Christian Commonwealth of Georgia.

Renee Unterman has survived getting trampled by a cow and a voter drive to boot her out of a mayor's job. Neither compares with the devastation of divorce, she says.

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Unterman is embroiled in a nasty divorce involving allegations of domestic abuse. Her husband, Marc, accuses her of striking him and their 14-year-old daughter. He also claims she threatened to end their marriage in murder and suicide, according to divorce documents.

The senator refuses to discuss specific allegations of family violence but acknowledges she was hospitalized twice in 2004 and takes medication for depression, which she described as an ongoing condition that runs in her family.

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Unterman said she had no idea her marriage was failing.

"I was at the state Capitol [this year] doing my business and working very hard, just as I always work, and came home and found out what my husband's feelings were," Unterman said. "And I was absolutely in shock as any woman would be."

The marital conflict erupted into violence in May, a month after the legislative session, according to a petition for a protective order filed in August by Marc Unterman against his wife. He alleges that she threatened to shoot herself and that she fired a gun. The senator later entered Charter Peachford Hospital in Dunwoody for a week.

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As devastating as the divorce is, "I'm going to get through it, and I think I'll be stronger," Unterman said. She said she has appreciated the countless calls and e-mails from constituentswho also have put her on church prayer lists.

Unterman also said she thinks the experience will make her a more effective spokeswoman for causes she already champions: issues affecting mental health care, senior citizens and families.

"Before George Bush called himself a 'compassionate conservative,' I'd written the book," she said.

As a politician, Unterman, who ran unopposed for re-election this year, has two years to overcome any fallout created by her personal problems. She remains part of the GOP Senate leadership. A former treasurer of the Republican caucus, Unterman recently was named to the newly created position of caucus secretary.