Posted on 02/29/2004 1:26:40 AM PST by KQQL
Support for a proposed constitutional amendment against gay marriage shrank by several crucial votes Saturday, as African-American lawmakers around the state rallied their colleagues to oppose it.
Two African-Americans who did not vote on the proposal in the House of Representatives last week said they would vote against it when it comes up for a second vote this week. The lone black representative who backed the legislation said he may switch his vote. And a white representative who did not vote last week said she would walk away again.
,B>"I live in the blackest county in Georgia, and, in the minds of black people, this has nothing to do with marriage," Rep. Sistie Hudson (D-Sparta) said. "They consider it discrimination."
Hudson said she left the House chamber before last Thursday's debate and the amendment's narrow defeat, and she plans to do the same this week.
Amendment supporters did pick up one vote Saturday. Rep. Pete Warren, a white Democrat from Augusta who did not vote last week, said he would support it, reluctantly.
Warren said he left Atlanta before the vote last week but now plans to support the proposed amendment to ban gay marriages in the state.
"I personally don't condone homosexuality," Warren said. "I don't think it's a government issue. It's sad issues like this have to be shoved down our throats for political reasons."
The proposed amendment fell three votes short of the 120 necessary to win final passage in the House. Eight black lawmakers either were excused from voting or were present but did not vote. Three whites also did not vote, and all 11 have been targets of heavy lobbying.
Proponents of the amendment vow to bring the issue back up early this week. Activists on both sides spent the weekend calling, e-mailing and faxing lawmakers, hoping to sway votes.
In Atlanta on Saturday, activists lobbied legislators as well as members of their own organizations. They set up efforts to work the churches today while planning competing demonstrations that could draw thousands of people to the state Capitol on Monday.
Sadie Fields, state chairman of the Christian Coalition, said she and coalition volunteers spent much of Saturday calling legislators, urging them to put a ban on gay marriages on the November general election ballot. The group also sent out fliers to more than 3,000 churches statewide asking parishioners to attend a noon rally at the Capitol on Monday.
Fields also used the airwaves Saturday during an hour-long call-in program on a Christian talk radio station. Today, she plans to attend services at the Anglican Church of the Apostles in Buckhead, then hit the telephones again.
Gay rights activists' counteroffensive began Saturday morning with a telephone campaign to muster support for Monday's demonstrations at the state Capitol.
About 10 volunteers from the groups Human Rights Campaign, Georgia Equality and What a Difference a Day Makes worked a phone bank at St. Mark United Methodist Church in Midtown. They called their memberships and asked them to contact their legislators.
On its Web site, Georgia Equality also reminded supporters to meet Monday morning near the Capitol.
In Augusta, a Saturday appearance by Democratic presidential candidates John Edwards and Al Sharpton was the main draw for a gathering of black elected officials, but the same-sex marital ban was dismissed as a Republican ploy.
"This is a political arena, and not a religious arena. This ban on gay marriage is just a distraction from the real issues that make our children hungry," said state Sen. Ed Harbison (D-Columbus), chairman of the 49-member Legislative Black Caucus, encompassing both the House and the Senate.
At Tabernacle Baptist Church in Augusta, two lawmakers who did not vote Thursday said they would oppose the measure, while a third who voted for it was reconsidering his support.
Rep. Henry Howard (D-Augusta) said Saturday he might change his vote when the issue returns, probably on Tuesday. "I take a stand the way I feel at the time," he said. "I am not a consistent voter. I vote my conscience at the time."
Howard sounded like a critic of the proposed amendment. "God makes us all equal. We all should be treated as humans," he said. "Those of us who make the laws, we can't legislate morality."
But Rep. Al Williams (D-Midway) said he would oppose the ban. "I will vote unequivocally 'no.' This is nothing but a Republican flag to divert people from the real issues," Williams said. He said he missed the vote Thursday because of an engagement in Brunswick.
State Rep. Ron Sailor Jr. (D-Decatur), who did not vote last week, also said he would vote against the amendment when it came up again. Sailor, a pastor, condemned Republicans for playing "political football" with a religious issue.
Privately, the lobbying has been fierce — and constant. In Augusta, no one was eager to speak on the issue publicly. Neither Edwards nor Sharpton addressed the issue.
Bobby Kahn, the combative new chairman of the state Democratic Party, attended the Augusta meeting but refused to be drawn into any public discussion of the issue. "It's a legislative matter," he said.
Likewise, Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin cited a City Council resolution opposing the amendment but said she is focused on getting a sales tax and fixing sewers.
In Sparta, between Atlanta and Augusta, Rep. Hudson said her decision to walk out on Thursday's vote had bipartisan backing.
Hudson represents seven counties in east central Georgia. Her home county, Hancock, is about 78 percent black, and among that constituency she found widespread opposition to the amendment. At the ends of her district are Baldwin and McDuffie counties, with growing numbers of Republican voters and a very different view, she said. "I didn't see any way to please both sides — any way to win."
Sir, if your children are hungry, go feed them. Children born out of wedlock is the thing that makes children go hungry and allowing 'gay marriage' will destroy the whole point of the institution of marriage. More children will go hungry if 'gay marriage' is allowed.
(snip)
Gay rights activists' counteroffensive began Saturday morning with a telephone campaign to muster support for Monday's demonstrations at the state Capitol.
Why does this all remind me of when 500 lawyers invaded Fl at 5AM the morning after the 2000 elections?
I'd be interested to know what kind of pressure is being put on these elected officials for them to change their vote
Now, do you know that for a fact or are you just RINO-ing again?
Now, do you know that for a fact or are you just RINO-ing again?
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