Civil Rights Coalition Speaks Out Against Writing Discrimination Into the U.S. Consti

Same Sex Marriage Forum

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 11, 2004

Michelle Woolley
202-263-2881

Washington, D.C. – Nancy Zirkin, deputy director of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, issued the following statement today in opposition to calls for an amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the "Federal Marriage Amendment," that would prohibit states from allowing gays and lesbians to marry.

"The Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR), the nation's oldest, largest, and most diverse civil and human rights coalition, opposes any attempt, such as the proposed Federal Marriage Amendment, to amend the United States Constitution to limit the rights of its citizens," Zirkin stated. "This amendment would turn 225 years of Constitutional history on its head by discriminatorily intruding into the traditional authority of states in matters of family law.

"The amendment is also antithetical to the Constitution's guiding principle to provide equal protection for all. It proposes to use one of our nation's most revered documents as a tool of exclusion, amending the Constitution to restrict the rights of a group of Americans for the first time in history. The proposed amendment would not only prohibit states from granting equal marriage rights to same-sex couples, but apparently seeks also to deprive same-sex couples and their families of fundamental protections such as hospital visitation, inheritance rights, and health care benefits, whether conveyed through marriage or other legally recognized relationships, running afoul of basic principles of fairness as well as causing harm to real children and real families.

"Amending the Constitution is a measure that is rarely used, and it is only done to address a great public policy need. Since the Bill of Rights' adoption in 1791, the Constitution has only been amended seventeen times. The Constitution itself, and subsequent amendments, were designed to protect and expand individual liberties. It has been amended to abolish slavery, and give women and young people the right to vote. It should not be used to single out some Americans for discrimination.

"Many of the major civil rights advances of the last century have resulted from the judicial branch stepping in to ensure that all Americans are provided equal protection under the law. From Brown v. Board of Education in 1954 to Loving v. Virginia in 1967, the courts have provided a necessary and constitutional check on governmental abuses of power and violations of individual rights. Adopting this amendment would take away the constitutional power of the courts to protect individual rights.

"Clearly President Bush will stop at nothing to please his Right Wing base, even seeking to use the Constitution to restrict the individual rights of American citizens. The whole idea of America is to provide each citizen with inalienable rights. All of a sudden the Constitution will be used to take rights away."

BECAUSE

Because gay men and lesbians are discriminated against in housing and employment and because how we act is more important than who we are and if we get harassed it’s our problem and if we get attacked we provoked it and if we raise our voices we’re flaunting ourselves and if we enjoy sex we’re perverts and if we have aids we deserve it and if we march with pride we’re recruiting children and if we want or have children we’re unfit parents and if we stand up for our rights we’re overstepping our boundaries and because we’re forced constantly to question our own worth as human beings and if we don’t have a relationship with someone of the opposite sex we haven’t given it a chance and if we have a relationship with someone of the same sex it is not recognized and we are told our love is not “real” and if we come out of the closet we are just going through a phase and because lesbian and gay history is virtually absent from literature and because homophobia is sanctioned by the supreme court and... for lots and lots of other reasons, I am part of the lesbian & gay civil rights movement.

MLK Widow Condemns Anti-Gay Amendment

Posted: March 24, 2004 2:10 p.m. ET

(Pomona, New Jersey) Calling same-sex marriage a civil rights issue, Coretta Scott King denounced a proposed constitutional amendment to ban it.

The widow of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King told an audience in New Jersey Tuesday that constitutional amendments should be used to expand freedom, not restrict it.

"Gay and lesbian people have families, and their families should have legal protection, whether by marriage or civil union," she said in a speech at The Richard Stockton College.

"A constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages is a form of gay bashing and it would do nothing at all to protect traditional marriages."

King also criticized a group of black pastors in her home state of Georgia for backing a bill to amend that state's constitution to block gay and lesbian couples from marrying.

On Monday, more than two dozen African American church leaders rallied against gay marriage declaring that same-sex marriage should not be equated with civil rights. (story)

"To equate a lifestyle choice to racism demeans the work of the entire civil rights movement," the statement said. "People are free in our nation to pursue relationships as they choose. To redefine marriage, however, to suit the preference of those choosing alternative lifestyles is wrong."

King called the pastors' stand :"misinformed". She has been a frequent supporter of gay rights issues and said that her husband believed in gay civil rights. King also likes to point out that Bayard Rustin who organized 1963 March on Washington was gay.

Just a little info on Bayard Rustin. This is from the PBS website POV. From the movie Brother Outsider.

Over the past 100 years, many groups have assembled on the Mall to make their voices heard to the federal government and the nation at large. The 1963 March on Washington organized by Bayard Rustin marked a turning point in the history of public demonstrations on the Mall. It was the largest protest the country had ever witnessed.

Holy...I didn't know Bayard Ruskin was gay, wow! What a remarkable man to face adversities head on, especially in the 60's!
Thank God for Dr. King and his wife, he was a true messenger of God's word who didn't twist it to justify discrimination. How sad that we were robbed of his voice for so many years.
I'm so glad the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights has stepped forward to voice their opposition to a Constitutional Amendment!

even though I don't agree with gay marriage, the Constitution should not be amended to address this issue.

just let the states decide. Not everything has to be centralized.