Advocates of Same-Sex 'Marriage' Muddying Florida's Waters, Says Attorney
by Allie Martin and Jody Brown
September 27, 2005
(AgapePress) - The ACLU, along with other liberal groups, is being accused of using scare tactics to try and derail a proposed constitutional amendment in Florida protecting traditional marriage.
Florida4Marriage.org is sponsor of the Florida Marriage Protection Amendment. The proposed amendment states: "Inasmuch as marriage is the legal union of only one man and one woman as husband and wife, no other legal union that is treated as marriage or the substantial equivalent thereof shall be valid or recognized."
Supporters have thus far gathered -- and forwarded to the Florida Supreme Court -- more than 70,000 signatures from voters to put the initiative on the 2006 ballot. More than 600,000 signatures must be collected by February 1, 2006, in order for the measure to make it onto the ballot, but the stated goal by supporters is more than one million.
However, groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, and others have banded together in opposition to the amendment. Those groups claim the measure would strip unmarried same-sex couples of all legal protections. But Liberty Counsel president Mat Staver says that is not the case.
Mat Staver | |
"This is an amendment that is designed to preserve and protect marriage as one man and one woman," Staver explains. "It is designed to prohibit same-sex 'marriage,' polygamy, or polyamory -- like group marriages -- or marriage substitutes like mimicking marriage under a different name. It is an amendment, pure and simple, that will preserve marriage as one man and one woman." An ACLU of Florida spokesman contends that supporters of the amendment are trying to "hoodwink the people" into believing it is only about marriage. But in reality, says Staver, advocates of homosexual marriage know the initiative will pass if it makes it to the ballot -- just as similar measures have passed in many other states in recent months. Their only hope, he says, is to misrepresent the facts, derail the amendment, and take away voters' opportunity to vote on the measure.
"The reason why the ACLU is trying to derail the amendment at this stage, they've actually admitted in their brief, is because when it goes to the voters it will indeed pass. It has passed every other state that has voted on marriage, and it will certainly pass in Florida," Staver predicts. "They don't want the voters to vote on marriage, and so they're trying to use the court to stop the people from exercising their right to vote."
But that will not happen, says the Orlando-based attorney. "We will vote and we will protect marriage between one man and one woman because it is best for the family and for Florida's children," Staver states.
Under Florida's law, any amendment to the state constitution must be reviewed by the state's Supreme Court to ensure it addresses a single subject and that the title and summary are clear and unambiguous. A brief filed last week by the ACLU and others opposing the amendment argues that the initiative violates the single-subject rule. They say it forces voters to decide both whether they want to ban same-sex couples from marriage and whether they want to ban same-sex couples from other types of legal recognition for their relationships.
This past Sunday (September 25) was "Marriage Protection Sunday" in Florida. Churches of all denominations participated by providing information tables where individuals could sign petitions in support of the amendment. Petitions in both English and Spanish and for insertion into church bulletins are available on the Internet at Florida4Marriage.org, website for the Florida Coalition to Protect Marriage.
