Gay bans embolden conservative religious groups

[WillParkinson]

(Los Angeles, California) Energized by a comeback win, conservative activists want to apply the same formula they used to outlaw same-sex marriage in California to prevent other states from recognizing gay unions and President-elect Barack Obama from expanding the rights of gays and lesbians.

Leaders of the successful Proposition 8 campaign say an unusual coalition of evangelical Christians, Mormons and Roman Catholics built a majority at the polls Tuesday by harnessing the organizational muscle of churches to a mainstream message about what school children might be taught about gay relationships if the ban failed.

Same-sex marriage bans also won in Arizona and Florida. But in putting together the California victory, the coalition overcame opposition from the state’s political establishment and assumptions about how voters in the famously tolerant state would respond to taking away the rights the state’s highest court granted this spring.

http://www.365gay.com/news/gay-bans-embolden-conservative-religious-groups/

[msongs]

1. that's the glbt community's reward for supporting one of the civil rights movements nt

[bluedawg12]

2. RW Religious, Gays Are :'Some small special interest group"

The RW Religious Political Coalition is dangerous for this exact reason, they are able to over come theological differences, racial, cultural and political differnces and unite in their self righteous hate mongering witch hunts.

Maybe we should start sending info to the National Black Justice Coalition, they are dedicated to GLBT fairness in the black community, efforts which help all gays.

www.nbjc.org


Read this article on how religion is a glue that binds disparate and unlikely groups as allies against gays.

http://66.218.69.11/search/cache?ei=UTF-8&p=Daughter+of...
Religious Coalitions For and Against Gay Marriage: The Culture War Rages On

David E. Campbell University of Notre Dame
Carin Larson Georgetown UniversityNote:

To be published in The Politics of Same-Sex Marriage, eds. Craig Rimmerman and Clyde Wilcox, University of Chicago Press.

“We come here today for the audience of One,” proclaimed the president of the Family Research Council, Tony Perkins. He stood before a cheering crowd gathered for the Mayday for Marriage rally on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. “While our troops battle terrorists and tyrants abroad, a parallel battle rages here on our soil for the family and ultimately the future of our nation.”1

On October 15, 2004, more than 200,000 people gathered in Washington, D.C. to defend what they see to be the traditional definition of marriage between one man and one woman. The Mayday for Marriage movement was organized in response to the rise of same-sex marriage on the national political agenda—on the west coast the mayor of San Francisco had authorized the marriage of same-sex couples, on the east coast the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts had issued a ruling mandating gay marriages in the Bay State, and in between gay marriages were being performed in a handful of jurisdictions.

A number of conservative pro-family groups, such as the Family Research Council, have since mobilized to host rallies across the country, attracting defenders of traditional marriage from a variety of denominations and faiths. To foreshadow the argument of this chapter—namely, that opposition to gay marriage unites religious traditionalists across the denominational spectrum—it is interesting to note that while the Family Research Council’s constituency is predominantly white evangelicals, Mayday for Marriage was begun by an African-American pastor.2

At the rally in D.C, the speakers included Rabbi Daniel Lapin who encouraged attendees to “remember marriage at the voting booth.”

A Catholic group, the American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property, waved banners and cheered following the Rabbi’s speech.

An English-speaking Chinese pastor translated the message for members of his congregation who stood holding a sign that read “Marriage = 1 Man + 1 Woman” both in English and their native language.

An Assemblies of God group joined hands to pray for the speakers.

Members of a local African-American church served as volunteers helping to pass out programs, humming to the worship band playing “Great is Thy Faithfulness” in the background.

Gary Bauer, a prominent spokesperson for the Christian Right, proclaimed to the attendees, “You are not some small special interest group. You are America. You are the heart of America.” 1

[Jamastiene]

3. I am having a hard time keeping up with which groups are hate groups

in the black community right now. I'll be honest; I never really looked at the black hate groups before. I should have though.

http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?sid=410

The reason I bring that up is that when you mentioned the National Black Justice Coalition, I actually had to go look that one up. It rang a bell, but it rang the wrong bell. I still cannot find the name of the black hate group I saw in passing, but there is another group with a similar name that is ANTI-gay. For me, it's time to go do some research. I'm having a hard time keeping up with an entire new list of groups and individuals who hate us and an entire new list of groups who are trying to help.

Thank you for mentioning the National Black Justice Coalition though. It's good to know they are trying to do good.

I still despise segregation though. It is going to take a lot of willpower to get used to the fact that we'll always be segregated and that's just the way it is. I can't find a place that way. Maybe I should just go back to the Lounge and let the smarter people handle this. God, I'm so confused and lost.

[NMMNG]

7. "You are America. You are the heart of America."

Then America is without a brain, and it's heart is corrupt and fetid to the core.

American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property

:wtf: Now we're a threat to their property too? They really are bathsh*t insane.

For a bunch of people who run the entire country they sure spend a lot of time pretending they're under siege.

[sui generis]

4. Tell my kids their parents aren't really their parents?

Tell them their family isn't really a family? Over my dead body, and I'm particularly difficult to make that way.

Tell me my kid can be taken from me at a traffic stop because my parental rights are not recognized by force of marriage? Just try it. We are not your retarded little brothers, needing special care and special rights. We're Americans, plain and simple.

If these people want war, they best remember some of us have taught war, have served in the military, have defended our "freedoms", and now they want to fuck with our families? They're the ones that had better think about this very very carefully.

Oh we'll give you a war your children won't forget.

[Maat]

6. I stand with you.

In Solidarity,

[Maat]

5. See, this is what I was afraid of ...

I campaigned and campaigned, until my feet were falling off, against Prop. 8. I've cried many times because it wasn't enough.

This is both a civil rights and a constitutional matter. We must get rid of Prop. 8!