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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (July 20, 2001)
july 2 0 .2 0 0 1 » J u s t o u t nTÏTTFn'TÎTI news ocial conservatives formally trotted out their latest stunt to “save” mar riage— an amendment to the U.S. C onstitution— during a news con- ference July 12 at the N ational Press Club in Washington, D.C. They tried to wrap it in language of moderation and “letting the people decide,” but opponents call it “a nuclear bomb.” T he effort is being led by the Alliance for Marriage, ostensibly a diverse coalition of individuals. But behind it are ties to James Dobson, his Focus on the Family and other socially conservative organizations. T he exec utive director is M att Daniels, formally associ ated with the Massachusetts Family Institute, which is preoccupied with the homosexual “threat” to marriage. The amendment is simple enough: “Mar riage 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 he construed to require that marital status or the legal incidents thereof he conferred upon unmarried couples or groups.” It mirrors anti-gay marriage amendments to state constitutions that conservatives have pushed in several states. Even though the amendment would inject the federal govern ment into an area that heretofore has been exclusively a state matter, Daniels claimed, “The traditional autonomy of state legislatures on family law matters is preserved by the text of the amendment.” He said the alliance is protecting U.S. citi zens from activist courts that are “distorting” existing law in order to promote a gay marriage agenda. The amendment would return power to the people to decide this issue. “Our nation cannot go forward unless our laws send a positive message to children about marriage, family and their future,” Daniels said. The amendment, he added, would help solve the problems of divorce, abuse, drug use and others that wrack U.S. families. Walter Fauntroy, a Baptist minister and for mer congressional representative for the District of Columbia, said the worst thing besetting peo ple of African descent throughout the world is “the pandemic of fatherless families that is sweeping our nation today. If we don’t do some thing about it, we will soon be back to slavery,” which was “based upon the destruction of the nuclear family.” Fauntroy called marriage “an institution which defines sexual activity as having a dual purpose, procreation and recreation, and not recreation alone.” Presumably, he would deny marriage to all post-menopausal women. Fauntroy claimed, “I am by no means aban doning my lifelong commitment to protecting the S A M ore P erfect U n io n ? Conservatives push constitutional amendment to "protect" marriage by Bob Roehr The Alliance for Marriage announces its remedy for to the destruction of the nuclear family civil rights of all citizens, gay an j straight, and of news conference across the lobby of the press every race, creed and color on this planet.” He said club to respond to the earlier gathering. sexual minorities could “enter into binding con Spokesman David Smith said the alliance “is tracts. But that right does not extend to the right intending to write out gay and lesbian families to redefine the institution of marriage for the pur from the U.S. Constitution.” pose of legalizing a lifestyle that one has chosen.” Donna Payne, an HRC field organizer, In 1983, Fauntroy opposed letting a gay acknowledged the problems facing U.S. fami person speak at an anniversary celebration of lies. “W hat is needed is solutions, not scape the 1963 civil rights March on Washington. goats,” she said. “They mistakenly think that ‘pro-family’ is a syn He equated gay onym for ‘a n ti rights with “pen "W hat is needed guin rights.” gay.’ ” She said the is solutions, not scapegoats. amendment “would Alliance mem bers were not will They m istakenly think that 'pro-fam ily' create a co n stitu tionally m andated ing to talk about is a synonym fo r 'anti-gay. ' " second class of A m when the amend erican citizens” and ment might be in urged a celebration troduced in Con gress or by whom. And despite all of the talk, of families in all of their diversity. “1 just don’t understand the reason for all of none seemed to be able to answer a basic ques tion from reporters: How would this amendment the sound and fury,” said Elder Michael Van Zant of Faith Temple Evangelical Church. “It is help heterosexual marriages? Perhaps that is why the event got so little obvious that these threats to heterosexual mar ink. As CBS Radio commentator Dave Ross riage and family are not homosexual unions but said, the amendment seems to come down to, rather the conduct and behavior of heterosexu “We don’t care who you marry or how long it als in and out of their heterosexual unions.” Leslie Watson, Equal Partners in Faith inter lasts, so long as the sexes are opposite.” im director, added, “As people of faith, we The Human Rights Campaign organized a Q rive w ith Pride B o b ROEHR is a free-lance reporter based m Washington, D . C . 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She said each religion should be free to decide what consti tutes marriage within its own tradition. “Most of the anti-gay attacks in Congress are legal equivalents of sticks and stones,” said Christopher Anders of the American Civil Lib erties Union. “This amendment is the legal equivalent of a nuclear bomb. It will wipe every single line protecting gay and lesbian families and other unmarried couples.” He said it would “invalidate all state and local domestic partnership laws,” even in those states that have passed a gay civil rights bill. It would prohibit state and local governments from offering domestic partner benefits to em ployees and “undermine” adoption and guard ianship laws, including hospital visitation and decision making. Anders turned to last fall’s vice presidential debate in which Dick Cheney said, “People should be free to enter into any kind of rela tionship they want to enter into.” He continued by noting that marriage is an issue where states might come to “different conclusions.. .1 don’t think that there should necessarily be a federal policy in this area...I think we ought to do everything we can to tolerate and accommodate whatever kind of relationships people want to enter into.” The alliance claimed the amendment would not affect the gay civil unions enacted in Ver mont or domestic partner laws. “I don’t know whether that is a purposeful misstatement or they don’t understand the language that they’re putting forward,” Anders said, but “the legal in cidents of marriage” include benefits that have been conferred through domestic partnership and other laws. Anders called the amendment “a more ex treme measure than the Defense of Marriage Act,” which sailed through Congress in 1996. He is afraid politicians might sign on before they realize how extreme it is, thus making it more difficult to change their minds later on. Passage would “deprive states of having that traditional role” of being a laboratory for family law and civil rights issues, he said. “Every single federal civil rights law has always allowed the states to develop stronger civil rights laws. But this takes states out of the picture entirely.” Smith said HRC has not seen “any evidence that this is a viable effort” in Congress, al though the organization will continue to moni tor things closely. J H # ^ Great downtown location 5 15 SW Broadway Tuesday—Saturday • 12-8 HOGAN & SANDERSON CISTUS DESI GN NURSERY 22711 N W Oil I I HAN ROAUSAUVIF IMANO I Rl DAS TO S U N D A Y 10 S SO.t.021 11 VI •AUTO ( 5 0 3 ) 6 9 9 -0 9 9 2 •H O M E TOLL FREE: * RENTERS • L IF E • COMMERCIAL •WORKER'S COMP ( 8 0 0 ) 6 9 9 -0 9 9 2 The Beebe Insurance Agency has proudly sewed our community since 19 89
