| Global update |
Valentine's becomes a day
for activists to voice beliefs
BY DAVID CRARY
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK — Chocolates and
flowers still abound, but Valentine’s
Day is acquiring a new, politically
tinged layer of symbolism: For many
activists, it’s now the date of choice
to mobilize on matters of the heart —
advocating abstinence, decrying di
vorce, and rallying nationwide to de
mand gay marriage.
Across the country, teens from hun
dreds of schools and youth groups will
make chastity pledges Monday on the
“Day of Purity,” organized by the Lib
erty Counsel, a Florida-based conser
vative legal group.
In Arkansas, Gov. Mike Huckabee
and his wife, Janet, will renew their
wedding vows in the presence of
hundreds of other couples at a cere
mony promoting the state’s covenant
marriage law, a voluntary system that
makes divorce harder to obtain. “The
nation will be watching as we take a
stand for marriage,” the Huckabees’
invitation says.
And at statehouses, courthouses
and city halls nationwide, gay-rights
supporters will be rallying in sup
port of gay marriage as Valentine’s
Day serves as the centerpiece of
Freedom to Marry Week. Similar ob
servances have occurred annually
since 1998, but this year the mood
is combative as state after state
moves to entrench bans on gay mar
riage in their constitutions.
“There’s a greater appreciation
this year of how much more work
there still is to do,” said Evan Wolf
son, a gay-rights lawyer who heads
the Freedom to Marry campaign.
“The hits we took last year were sad
but predictable. ”
Last year, 13 states enacted constitu
tional bans on gay marriage, seeking to
thwart any ripple effect from court rul
ings like the one that legalized same
sex marriages in Massachusetts. Legis
latures in at least a half-dozen more
states are considering similar bans this
year; Kansas lawmakers already have
placed such a ban on the ballot for a
statewide vote April 5.
“We are at a moment of peril
right now where our opponents are
able to stampede people into adopt
ing these discriminatory amend
ments, depriving them of the time
to take a deep breath and embrace
fairness,” Wolfson said.
Monday’s events include rallies for
gay marriage in Milwaukee, Portland
and Tampa, Fla., and at the statehous
es. in Maryland, New Mexico and
Washington state. In Richmond, Va„
gay and lesbian couples plan to apply
for marriage licenses at City Hall, then
be united in ceremonies performed by
a minister from the Metropolitan Com
munity Church. Same-sex couples in
California plan to request marriage li
censes from their county clerk’s office.
A very different crowd is expected
Monday evening at a North Little
Rock arena for the marriage celebra
tion in Arkansas, where voters over
whelmingly approved a gay-marriage
ban last year.
Huckabee, in a telephone interview,
said he wants to make more
Arkansans aware of covenant mar
riage — an option in which couples
pledge to go through lengthy counsel
ing before any divorce, unless there is a
dramatic factor such as physical abuse.
“We’re trying to combat the idea
that covenant marriage is some kind of
holier-than-thou religious act,” Huck
abee said. “It’s an admission on our
part that keeping a marriage together
is very hard work; it’s a commitment
that if the marriage hits a crisis, we’ll
see counselors before we see lawyers
— and see if we can work it out. ”
Arkansas has one of the nation’s
highest divorce rates. Thus far, few
couples have exercised the option of
covenant marriage — about 600 in
three years out of roughly 40,000 mar
riages that occur annually in the state.
Organizers of the Day of Purity, be
ing held for the second time, said
young people from roughly 2,000
schools and church groups have signed
up to participate. They are encouraged
to wear white T-shirts as a symbol of
purity and to hand out flyers to fellow
students on such topics as promiscuity
and sexually transmitted disease.
“Students are bombarded with the
message that they should become sex
ually active at a young age and to ex
periment with their sexual prefer
ences,” organizers said in a statement.
“The Day of Purity offers the youth
who strive for sexual purity an oppor
tunity to stand in opposition to a cul
ture of moral decline.”
School officials and teachers in
some communities were wary of pro
moting the Day of Purity for fear it
would be seen as a religious activity,
she said.
Why choose Valentine’s Day for
the event?
“The focus is so much on going out
on that special date,” Lindevaldsen
said. “It’s a good time to be thinking
about making wise choices.”
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