Gay-marriage ban is on track, coalition says
Miami Herald -- August 20, 2005
by Mary Ellen Klas
Tallahassee -- A coalition of conservative religious groups said Friday that it will soon have enough signatures to trigger a court review of an amendment to ban gay and lesbian civil unions and same-sex marriage in Florida.
Florida4Marriage, working with the Christian Coalition and the Liberty Counsel, said it had nearly all of the 61,000 valid voter signatures needed to seek Florida Supreme Court approval of its proposed constitutional amendment.
High court approval of the ballot language is the first step to getting the measure on the November 2006 ballot.
The second step: The group must collect 611,000 valid voter signatures by Feb. 1.
The amendment would add to the state constitution a statement that marriage in Florida ``is the legal union of only one man and one woman, as husband and wife.''
It would also ban civil unions by declaring that ``no other legal union that is treated as marriage or the substantial equivalent thereof shall be valid or recognized.''
Christian Coalition President Bill Stephens predicted Friday that the group will collect the required signatures and, if the measure makes it to the ballot, it will get overwhelming approval.
''It'll pass, absolutely,'' he said, adding later: ``I hope people understand our message is not about hate and bigotry.''
Opponents of the measure, however, say the proposal is a divisive attempt to block access to future and existing legal benefits obtained by homosexual couples.
Equality Florida, a gay-rights advocacy group, said the amendment ``would not only block equal access to marriage, but it also would deny access to civil unions and threaten existing domestic partnership benefits.''
Equality Florida released a poll that said 54 percent of Floridians support a ban against gay marriage, while 55 percent said they support some type of legal union for gay and lesbian couples.
Gov. Jeb Bush has said he considers the amendment unnecessary, since Florida law already bans same-sex marriage and there has been no attempt to strike it down.
by Mary Ellen Klas
Tallahassee -- A coalition of conservative religious groups said Friday that it will soon have enough signatures to trigger a court review of an amendment to ban gay and lesbian civil unions and same-sex marriage in Florida.
Florida4Marriage, working with the Christian Coalition and the Liberty Counsel, said it had nearly all of the 61,000 valid voter signatures needed to seek Florida Supreme Court approval of its proposed constitutional amendment.
High court approval of the ballot language is the first step to getting the measure on the November 2006 ballot.
The second step: The group must collect 611,000 valid voter signatures by Feb. 1.
The amendment would add to the state constitution a statement that marriage in Florida ``is the legal union of only one man and one woman, as husband and wife.''
It would also ban civil unions by declaring that ``no other legal union that is treated as marriage or the substantial equivalent thereof shall be valid or recognized.''
Christian Coalition President Bill Stephens predicted Friday that the group will collect the required signatures and, if the measure makes it to the ballot, it will get overwhelming approval.
''It'll pass, absolutely,'' he said, adding later: ``I hope people understand our message is not about hate and bigotry.''
Opponents of the measure, however, say the proposal is a divisive attempt to block access to future and existing legal benefits obtained by homosexual couples.
Equality Florida, a gay-rights advocacy group, said the amendment ``would not only block equal access to marriage, but it also would deny access to civil unions and threaten existing domestic partnership benefits.''
Equality Florida released a poll that said 54 percent of Floridians support a ban against gay marriage, while 55 percent said they support some type of legal union for gay and lesbian couples.
Gov. Jeb Bush has said he considers the amendment unnecessary, since Florida law already bans same-sex marriage and there has been no attempt to strike it down.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home