Beacon Broadside

by Patricia A. Gozemba

Draft a constitutional amendment that is divisive and
sweeping in its possibilities for endangering committed and established
relationships of all Floridians, straight and gay, and call it the "Florida
Marriage Protection Amendment." Make sure that it’s ambiguous enough to
ultimately be able to do away with domestic partnerships that are recognized in
a number of Florida municipalities. Use seemingly transparent language,
"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." Consider the
legal arguments that can be hung on "substantial equivalent."

Just pretend that the amendment is aimed only at
preventing the marriage equality of same-sex couples and that it is vitally
needed. Posture that the 1997 Florida Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) statute is
not solid enough to prevent "activist" judges from undoing it. Keep up the
pretense for four years as you gather the requisite 611,009 signatures to place
the amendment on the November 2008 ballot. When you get 612,192 signatures by
late December 2007, weeks before the February 1, 2008 deadline, hold a press
conference in Orlando and announce it with fanfare.

Start preparing to host Marriage Sundays and Citizenship
Sundays in churches throughout 2008 in the run up to the November 4 election.
Matt Staver, chairman and founder of Liberty Counsel based in Orlando, advises
church leaders that this is all legal. He also counsels them on where to set up
tables, what to preach about, how to conduct seminars and conferences to
support the so-called marriage amendment. He’s available to help in any way.
Liberty Counsel has been fighting marriage equality nationwide for years.

Depending on one’s commitment to equality this scenario
sounds like a Disney fairytale or a tale of terror emanating from Orlando.
Besides the Liberty Counsel and Disney World, Orlando also happens to be the
home base for Florida4Marriage and its chair John Stemberger, who is also the
President and General Counsel of Florida Family Policy Council. Behind
Stemberger and Staver are the other national stars for inequality, in
particular Focus on the Family leader James Dobson along with its policy
analyst Glenn Stanton who is still pushing his skewed research about same-sex
parenting that is not recognized by any respectable academic or professional
body.

The fairytale that Florida would become the 28th state to
constitutionally ban same-sex marriage came up against reality on January 10th.
Florida Secretary of State Kurt Browning announced that signatures from
Miami-Dade County had been double counted in a computer error and
Florida4Marriage needed 22,000 more signatures by the Feb. 1 deadline to get
their amendment on the ballot.

The Florida Baptist Witness editorialized on January
21st, “Since Florida Baptists have been in the lead of this vital effort since
its beginnings, it’s incumbent upon our churches to mobilize in the next few
days to ensure the Florida Marriage Protection Amendment reaches the 611,009
threshold of necessary petitions…" The Witness also cautioned that it
might be a good idea to get 50,000 signatures just in case… After four
years, this just occurs to them? To make the Feb. 1st deadline they’ll need to
have all their petitions in the Florida4Marriage office on Presidential Primary
Day, January 29th.

In what Stemberger has dubbed a "constitutional
emergency," he has called upon the Family Research Council and the American
Family Association to help get signatures and perhaps cook up a legal
strategy. He’s tight on cash, especially
since the Florida Republican Party spigot got turned off when Jeb Bush left
office and Republican Bill Crist, an original signer of the petition, became
governor and then turned his back on "marriage protection." This despite
Stemberger’s past role as the state Republican Party political chair. Crist now
declares that education, global warming, skyrocketing property insurance costs,
and the housing market crisis are more pressing issues for Floridians. How
sensible.

While the disarray that has struck the "marriage
protection" fairytale could give me heart that there is justice, I still see
their movement as an instructive stealth tale of terror. These anti-gay
activists will not go away–in Florida or across the country. And they still may
get the 22,000 signatures or cook up a lawsuit against the state.

Their proposed amendment and the 27 others already passed
in states across the country do not protect heterosexual marriage. Worst of all
the Florida amendment, in an attempt to preserve second-class citizenship for
LGBT citizens, jeopardizes domestic partnerships. Health benefits, hospital
visitation rights, and medical decision-making privileges for all unmarried
couples gay and straight are on line. This includes many heterosexual seniors
who are increasingly entering into domestic partnerships to pledge commitment
and still protect their pensions and social security. Public employees in
Florida in domestic partnerships, such as teachers, university employees,
police officers, and firefighters, will be the losers.

Michigan public employees have learned this lesson and
employees at universities in Ohio and Kentucky are currently under threat.
Voters in Michigan in 2004 were tricked into believing domestic partnerships
would not be threatened. The courts decided otherwise. In 2007, Arizona voters turned down a "marriage protection" amendment for exactly this reason.

Floridians are being educated about this by Fairness for
All Families a coalition of
close to 200 local, national, and state organizations including the NAACP,
SEIU, the Florida Alliance for Retired Americans, Equality Florida, and Florida
Red and Blue. In early January, Fairness acquired a powerful civil rights ally
and spokesperson, Julian Bond, Chairman of the NAACP, who joined former US
Attorney General Janet Reno and others on the Fairness Honorary Board. In
speaking of the proposed constitutional amendment, Bond asserted, "It is
divisive. It’s harmful. It does not bring people together. It drives them
apart.’

For the presidential primary on January 29th, volunteers
trained at nine sessions across the state by three full-time members of the
Human Rights Campaign partnering with Florida Red
and Blue will be at the polls prepared to talk with voters about the harmful
effect of the Marriage Protection Amendment. Of course amendment proponents
will also be at the polls, at least in the early part of the day, trying to
collect the necessary 22,000 signatures. Joe Saunders of Fairness for All Families says, "Our opponents will
probably be pulling out all the stops, but we’ll be prepared. We’re focused on
getting out our message of fairness. That’s what Floridians believe in and
want."

Let’s hope the fairytale is put on pause on February 1st
and the real American story of fairness is embraced by all Floridians.

In June and November of 2007, I spent a fair amount of
time in Sarasota with Equality Florida and Fairness for All Families getting
out the story about the Massachusetts marriage equality victory and our defeat
of a proposed constitutional amendment in the legislature. Our book Courting
Equality: A Documentary History of America’s First Legal Same-Sex Marriages
(Beacon Press, 2007) inspired Florida’s LGBT community and its allies with hope
and raised their expectations. I’ll be returning to Florida
for at least a week in April/May 2008 working with the Stonewall Seacoast
Democrats, Fairness for All Families, and Equality Florida to continue to educate people about our families and our
need for family protections. Read more at www.courtingequality.com.