‘Few disagree’ with gay marriage ban

By Jean Cole
jean@athensnews-courier.com

May 06, 2006 09:11 pm

— A man waved a sign that read, “Marry Me, Roy” as gubernatorial candidate Roy Moore predicted Saturday a large majority of Alabama voters will support a proposed constitutional ban on gay marriage.
“I doubt very few will disagree,” Moore said during a rally in Athens to raise awareness for the amendment. “This is not about sodomy or two homosexuals getting married, it’s about the destruction of what is ordained by God.”
Alabama residents will vote June 6 on a state Constitutional amendment that would ban marriage between people of the same sex.
“I anticipate over 90 percent approval,” Moore told 150 to 200 people who gathered on the steps of the Limestone County Courthouse.
Only two opponents were visible at the rally.
The man with the “Marry Me, Roy” sign, A. Garth of Athens, wore blue jeans and sandals and carried a bouquet of flowers. The other side of his sign read: “You can’t ban love.”
Garth held the sign, stood among the crowd and quietly recited the Lord’s Prayer with the crowd during the invocation. Three Athens police officers stood behind him in case he started a ruckus.
There was none.
However, Garth did follow Moore as he left early to take a helicopter to an event in Shelby County.
“I’m here because I’m opposed to this amendment,” he said.
At one point in his speech, Moore acknowledged Garth’s sign — at least one side of it.
“It’s not about love, it’s about God,” Moore said. “God is love.”
Another opponent, Julie Murphy of Athens, sat crossed-legged in the street at the edge of the crowd. Her sign read, “Jesus preached love and compassion.”
She disliked the tone of the speeches.
“All I have heard so far is dissing down,” Murphy said toward the close of the event. “They don’t offer to help people with the sin of homosexuality, it’s just negative, negative, negative. You are supposed to help the sinner, not put them down. That’s what Jesus would do.”
To some, the amendment seems redundant.
State law already bans marriage between people of the same sex. However, a Constitutional amendment would prevent courts from striking down the state law, as courts in Boston and San Francisco did.
While a man handed out Moore political signs from a box about 150 yards from the speakers, Moore told gatherers, “This is not a political issue, it a moral issue,” he said. “When we forget God, we forget our morals.”
The crowd applauded.
Failing to vote for the amendment may have repercussions, said Tim Anderson, one of several speakers at the event.
“You get to choose today, “ he told the crowd. “When we stand before God, we won’t get to choose.”
His remarks drew widespread applause and some “Amens.”
The rally, called the Stand Up For Traditional Marriage Rally, was sponsored by the Athens Limestone for Quality of Life Committee, a group which reformed this year under chairman Mike Westmoreland. Westmoreland is pastor of Madison Street Baptist Church.
The proposed amendment defines marriage in the state Constitution as a union between a man and a woman only.
It would also prevent Alabama from recognizing same-sex marriages from other states.
State legislators voted in March 2005 to put the amendment on the June 6 ballot. It is sponsored by Sen. Hinton Mitchem, D-Albertville, and cosponsored by 11 other senators.
Fear for Alabama’s children prompted Mitchem to sponsor the amendment. He said he watched television coverage of a rally in San Francisco in which two men were kissing.
“That was not conducive to the welfare of our children, “ he told The News Courier Friday.
What it says
The proposed Sanctity of Marriage Act — also known as senate bill 109 — states in part:
• No marriage license shall be issued in the state of Alabama to parties of the same sex.
• The state of Alabama shall not recognize as valid any marriage of parties of the same sex that occurred or was alleged to have occurred as a result of the law of any jurisdiction regardless of whether a marriage license was issued.

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