I wish GA voters would actually think about these things
OUR OPINION: EDITORIAL: Ban demagoguery and deceit
AJC Staff
Sunday, October 31, 2004
from AJC
Living down the street from you is a lesbian couple who faithfully buys Sally Foster wrapping paper and Girl Scout cookies from your daughter. Working across from you is a gay man who explains to you twice a day --- without complaint --- how to open an e-mail attachment. Spending Thanksgiving with you will be a favorite nephew who recently announced that he's gay.
Gay people live and work everywhere in Georgia. They are Democrats and Republicans. They are our friends, our neighbors and our family.
They are the daughters of Vice President Dick Cheney and Georgia Christian Coalition chairman Sadie Fields. They are the son of Operation Rescue founder Randall Terry and the sister of Republican icon Newt Gingrich. They are contributing members of our communities, our workplaces and our churches.
And they are under attack.
If Georgia voters approve a constitutional amendment Tuesday banning gay marriage, they will not be protecting the sanctity of marriage between a man and a woman, as its proponents contend.
Marriage is not threatened by gays and lesbians; it's being destroyed from within by couples who recite their wedding vows with their fingers crossed behind their backs. Gays are not to blame for children growing up without fathers. Yet, gays have become the scapegoat for all that's wrong with American families.
The Official Code of Georgia already prohibits gay marriage. It states, "It is declared to be the public policy of this state to recognize the union only of man and woman. Marriages between persons of the same sex are prohibited in this state."
So why enshrine discrimination and hostility toward gay Georgians into the state constitution, a document designed to expand liberties, not restrict them?
This sordid constitutional amendment reflects the worst of Georgia politics. For their own gain, politicians are advocating discrimination against a minority group that lacks the ballot power to repudiate them. Amendment One aims to inflame voters and create a bogeyman that will coalesce conservative voters and get them to the polls.
Many legislators who backed the amendment hail from districts with empty storefronts in once-vital downtowns, high rates of unemployment and underfunded schools. The lawmakers can't revitalize their downtowns or lure big employers to their empty industrial parks. They can't restore the music programs lost to state budget cuts or recruit top teachers to their failing schools.
But they can outlaw gay marriage by resorting to demagoguery and deceit.
Their misleading amendment goes well beyond banning gay marriage. Even former Republican U.S. Rep. Bob Barr, the author of a federal law defining marriage as the legal union of a man and a woman, criticized the Georgia amendment as "poorly worded" and "confusing." At a debate last week, Barr said, "there is more to that constitutional amendment proposal than defining marriage as a man and a woman."
In its entirety, Amendment One undermines the legality of civil unions in general and strips the state courts of any jurisdiction over them. It jeopardizes the civil unions that President Bush and Vice President Cheney endorse. "I don't think we should deny people rights to a civil union, a legal arrangement, if that's what a state chooses to do so," said Bush last week. "I view the definition of marriage different from legal arrangements that enable people to have rights. States ought to be able to have the right to pass laws that enable people to be able to have rights like others."
The architects of Georgia's gay marriage ban want a cheap and easy victory to enhance their political resumes, and they're willing to exploit gay neighbors, friends and relatives to do it.
Don't let them.
BALLOT VS. AMENDMENT
On the Nov. 2 ballot, Georgia voters will be asked the following question: "Shall the Constitution be amended so as to provide that this state shall recognize as marriage only the union of man and woman?"
If voters say yes, here's the language that will be added to the Constitution:
(a) This state shall recognize as marriage only the union of man and woman. Marriages between persons of the same sex are prohibited in this state.
(b) No union between persons of the same sex shall be recognized by this state as entitled to the benefits of marriage. This state shall not give effect to any public act, record, or judicial proceeding of any other state or jurisdiction respecting a relationship between persons of the same sex that is treated as a marriage under the laws of such other state or jurisdiction. The courts of this state shall have no jurisdiction to grant a divorce or separate maintenance with respect to any such relationship or otherwise to consider or rule on any of the parties' respective rights arising as a result of or in connection with such relationship.
AJC Staff
Sunday, October 31, 2004
from AJC
Living down the street from you is a lesbian couple who faithfully buys Sally Foster wrapping paper and Girl Scout cookies from your daughter. Working across from you is a gay man who explains to you twice a day --- without complaint --- how to open an e-mail attachment. Spending Thanksgiving with you will be a favorite nephew who recently announced that he's gay.
Gay people live and work everywhere in Georgia. They are Democrats and Republicans. They are our friends, our neighbors and our family.
They are the daughters of Vice President Dick Cheney and Georgia Christian Coalition chairman Sadie Fields. They are the son of Operation Rescue founder Randall Terry and the sister of Republican icon Newt Gingrich. They are contributing members of our communities, our workplaces and our churches.
And they are under attack.
If Georgia voters approve a constitutional amendment Tuesday banning gay marriage, they will not be protecting the sanctity of marriage between a man and a woman, as its proponents contend.
Marriage is not threatened by gays and lesbians; it's being destroyed from within by couples who recite their wedding vows with their fingers crossed behind their backs. Gays are not to blame for children growing up without fathers. Yet, gays have become the scapegoat for all that's wrong with American families.
The Official Code of Georgia already prohibits gay marriage. It states, "It is declared to be the public policy of this state to recognize the union only of man and woman. Marriages between persons of the same sex are prohibited in this state."
So why enshrine discrimination and hostility toward gay Georgians into the state constitution, a document designed to expand liberties, not restrict them?
This sordid constitutional amendment reflects the worst of Georgia politics. For their own gain, politicians are advocating discrimination against a minority group that lacks the ballot power to repudiate them. Amendment One aims to inflame voters and create a bogeyman that will coalesce conservative voters and get them to the polls.
Many legislators who backed the amendment hail from districts with empty storefronts in once-vital downtowns, high rates of unemployment and underfunded schools. The lawmakers can't revitalize their downtowns or lure big employers to their empty industrial parks. They can't restore the music programs lost to state budget cuts or recruit top teachers to their failing schools.
But they can outlaw gay marriage by resorting to demagoguery and deceit.
Their misleading amendment goes well beyond banning gay marriage. Even former Republican U.S. Rep. Bob Barr, the author of a federal law defining marriage as the legal union of a man and a woman, criticized the Georgia amendment as "poorly worded" and "confusing." At a debate last week, Barr said, "there is more to that constitutional amendment proposal than defining marriage as a man and a woman."
In its entirety, Amendment One undermines the legality of civil unions in general and strips the state courts of any jurisdiction over them. It jeopardizes the civil unions that President Bush and Vice President Cheney endorse. "I don't think we should deny people rights to a civil union, a legal arrangement, if that's what a state chooses to do so," said Bush last week. "I view the definition of marriage different from legal arrangements that enable people to have rights. States ought to be able to have the right to pass laws that enable people to be able to have rights like others."
The architects of Georgia's gay marriage ban want a cheap and easy victory to enhance their political resumes, and they're willing to exploit gay neighbors, friends and relatives to do it.
Don't let them.
BALLOT VS. AMENDMENT
On the Nov. 2 ballot, Georgia voters will be asked the following question: "Shall the Constitution be amended so as to provide that this state shall recognize as marriage only the union of man and woman?"
If voters say yes, here's the language that will be added to the Constitution:
(a) This state shall recognize as marriage only the union of man and woman. Marriages between persons of the same sex are prohibited in this state.
(b) No union between persons of the same sex shall be recognized by this state as entitled to the benefits of marriage. This state shall not give effect to any public act, record, or judicial proceeding of any other state or jurisdiction respecting a relationship between persons of the same sex that is treated as a marriage under the laws of such other state or jurisdiction. The courts of this state shall have no jurisdiction to grant a divorce or separate maintenance with respect to any such relationship or otherwise to consider or rule on any of the parties' respective rights arising as a result of or in connection with such relationship.