Storm Won't Stop Louisianans' Vote on Same-Sex 'Marriage' Ban

by Jenni Parker
September 16, 2004

(AgapePress) - In Louisiana, supporters of an effort to pass a state constitutional amendment banning same-sex "marriage" say, storm or no storm, the measure could very well pass with more than 70 percent of the vote this Saturday. Meanwhile, government and community leaders statewide and nationwide continue to defend to critics the need for the amendment.

Gene Mills with the Christian lobbying group Louisiana Family Forum, says if voter turnout is large enough, the state marriage amendment could pass by an even more decisive margin than did a similar same-sex marriage ban in Missouri last month. Mills was quoted as saying that "Louisiana is a very traditional state," and the impression his group has taken from its informal polls is that the marriage ban will be overwhelmingly endorsed by the voters.

According to a report in the Baton Rouge news journal The Advocate, several backers of the amendment effort at a State Capitol news conference made similar favorable forecasts. Among these was Representative Steve Scalise, House sponsor of the amendment proposal.

Scalise also noted that if only 30 percent of the Louisiana electorate turned out, support for the ban could exceed that evidenced in the recent vote on the similar Missouri marriage amendment, which 71.6 percent of the voters' favored. However, both opponents and supporters of the Louisiana Marriage Protection Amendment are voicing concerns that the effects of Hurricane Ivan may influence voter turnout.

Chris Daigle is director of government and community affairs for Equality Louisiana, a group that opposes the amendment. Daigle feels the amendment would "enshrine discrimination" and argues that it could hurt the state's economic development by putting the constitution at odds with many large companies' anti-discrimination policies. Still, the Equality Louisiana spokesman believes it is premature to be making predictions about margins of victory or defeat, since it is impossible to know how Ivan will affect voter turnout.

Will Ivan Influence the Vote?
And at a press conference in Acadiana, where pro-amendment politicians, religious leaders, and political candidates gathered on the steps of the federal courthouse to rally support, State Senator Mike Michot stated that even if the measure passes, he expects opponents to challenge the outcome. Michot thinks opponents of the marriage amendment are likely to argue that Hurricane Ivan and the evacuation of New Orleans disrupted the election process for a large concentration of the state's voters.

Tony Perkins

But Family Research Council president Tony Perkins insists that the inclement weather will in no way prevent the people from going to the polls to voice their feelings about the marriage protection measure. He states, "Citizens in my home state of Louisiana will vote on a constitutional amendment defining marriage this Saturday in spite of Hurricane Ivan, which is bearing down on the area."

The pro-family leader says FRC Action -- the legislative action arm of Family Research Council -- has been assisting the Louisiana Family Forum with "get-out-the-vote and educational activities" in preparation for the vote. He adds that the Marriage Protection Amendment would clearly define marriage in Louisiana's constitution as the union of one man and one woman.

Louisiana already has laws on the books banning same-sex marriage, but the proposed amendment would enshrine that prohibition in the state's constitution. But Perkins and other supporters of the amendment feel it is an essential move in order to shore up the ban against any attempt to strike it down in court.

"Legislators in Louisiana placed this amendment on the ballot after recognizing the need to give the people a voice in this important debate," Perkins says. "Voters should decide the fate of marriage in Louisiana, not un-elected activist judges."

Jan LaRue

Answering Amendment Opponents' Arguments
Opponents of Louisiana's Marriage Protection Amendment contend that it is not only unnecessary, but also risks nullifying a broad category of private contracts between both same-sex partners and heterosexual couples. But Jan LaRue of Concerned Women for America considers the arguments baseless.

LaRue says homosexual activists and their media allies are using these warnings as a smokescreen to keep the public from protecting the institution of marriage on the ballot this Saturday. "The proposed marriage amendment will not interfere with the right of anyone to hold and convey property with another adult, enter into contractual agreements, appoint a competent adult to make health-care decisions, or to make hospital visits or funeral arrangements," she says.

Also, the CWA spokeswoman explains, the amendment will affect state action, not private-sector employers who choose to provide benefits to unmarried couples. She says, "This is about preserving marriage and protecting kids" -- and she notes, "The New Orleans city attorney's office is quoted as saying that the city's domestic partner registry and benefits won't be affected."

Bob Knight, director of CWA's Culture and Family Institute, says homosexual activists are using scare tactics and have resorted to a last-ditch claim that the amendment would strip hundreds of thousands of non-married couples of their legal rights. But he asserts, "Louisiana voters know this is not true."

Knight says the state's voters can be counted on to realize "that the proposed marriage amendment is an insurance policy to protect their state from the same kind of reckless judges that took a wrecking ball to marriage in Massachusetts." He insists that these "Chicken Little" alarmist tactics failed to work in Missouri and will fail again in Louisiana.