Eyes of the Nation Turn to Massachusetts
by Bill Fancher and Jody Brown
February 11, 2004
(AgapePress) - All eyes are on Massachusetts today where state legislators are preparing to make a historic decision on homosexual "marriage." The decision made by those lawmakers could have an effect on the institution of marriage nationwide.
The Massachusetts constitutional convention convenes at 2:00 p.m. Eastern time on Wednesday to consider how it will respond to the state's Supreme Judicial Court refusal to allow anything short of full and equal marriage rights for homosexual couples. Activists on both sides of the issue are flocking to Boston as elected officials begin deliberation on the explosive issue. The legislature could vote to let the people decide the issue through a constitutional amendment -- or it could bow to the high court's order and legalize same-sex marriage.
Ray McNulty, spokesman for the Massachusetts-based Coalition for Marriage, says the defenders of God's first institution are going all they can to push the legislature to protect the traditional view of marriage. He reports that he recently spoke to the state representative from his district.
"She said that this issue has brought more people out to her office for visits [and generated more] letters and e-mails than any other issue in the last ten years," he says.
McNulty says the issue has awakened the conservatives in the Bay State who have been quiet for too long. In fact, the Coalition yesterday presented lawmakers on Beacon Hill with thousands of petitions from citizens in the Bay State and around the country urging approval of a constitutional amendment that would define marriage as the union of one man and one woman.
Concerned Women for America reports that Ron Crews, a spokesman for the Coalition, said it was important that legislators see the depth of sentiment in favor of preserving marriage because some legislators were considering amending the amendment to allow for homosexual civil unions. Crews calls such a compromise "a mockery of the constitution itself."
Division in Black Clergy
Associated Press reports that black clergy in the state are divided over the issue. Half of the plaintiffs who convinced the state's highest court to order legalization of homosexual marriage are Unitarian Universalists, whose denomination is led by an African-American -- Rev. William Sinkford. He says homosexuals in his denomination do not want Massachusetts lawmakers to take away the right to marry that they have won in court.
"Of the 14 named plaintiffs in the case, seven are Unitarian Universalists," Sinkford tells AP. "We have been affirmative of the rights of bisexual, gay, lesbian, and trans-gender people for decades now, and we do see this as a question of civil rights."
Sinkford says Massachusetts lawmakers should not define marriage according to a traditional religious framework. "Though the Judeo-Christian tradition certainly has not recognized same-gender marriage, that doesn't change the fact that the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts should be equally applied to all of its citizens," he says.
But other black ministers in the state say courts do not have the right to redefine marriage, and are urging Massachusetts lawmakers to amend the state constitution so that marriage remains the union of a man and a woman. Rev. Jeffrey Brown, who co-founded a Boston coalition of minority clergy, says Massachusetts lawmakers should act to preserve traditional marriage.
"The constitutional convention needs to pass the amendment affirming marriage as a union between a man and a woman," Brown says. "I don't believe that gay marriage is a civil right."
Brown says the courts do not have the right to redefine marriage. "Marriage predates notions of citizen and democracy and the nation-state," he says. "It is grounded within biblical belief as a union between a man and a woman, and it's always been like that."
In addition, Brown says families will be further weakened if gay marriage is legalized.
