Opponents Of Marriage Amendment Call It Un-Christian

Columbia, SC -- Opponents of a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages in South Carolina called the proposed change a political stunt that would legalize discrimination. South Carolina is among half a dozen states nationwide with marriage amendments on the ballot in November. Voters here will decide whether to change the state constitution to say "a marriage between one man and one woman is the only lawful domestic union that shall be valid or recognized." "This amendment is a political ploy to rally the conservative groups and all the right-wing Christians to draw attention away from the real issues," the Rev. Bennie Colclough said at a news conference Monday organized by the South Carolina Equality Coalition and the South Carolina Gay and Lesbian Pride Movement. The Rev. Tom Summers said Jesus spent most of his time with society's outcasts and would not approve of such discrimination. "This God-awful amendment is one of the most un-Christian, political gestures ever imposed upon our state," said Summers, a retired Methodist minister in Columbia. About 6%, or 250,000, of South Carolina's residents are gay, according to the coalition. South Carolina had 7,609 households with same-sex partners, equal to about one percent of all coupled households in the state and about 10% of all households with unmarried partners, according to the 2000 Census. South Carolina already has a marriage law, but proponents say a constitutional change would ensure that courts won't overturn it and the Palmetto State can refuse to recognize same-sex marriages performed elsewhere. Republicans in Congress have proposed a similar amendment to the US Constitution, backed by President Bush, though it has little chance of passing the Senate. "A constitutional amendment is the only effective way to cut off the growing trend among judges to create a constitutional right to same-sex marriage," US Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-SC, said about the upcoming vote, expected Wednesday. Nationwide, 19 states have changed their constitution to protect the traditional definition of marriage, Bush said Saturday in his radio address. State Attorney General Henry McMaster announced last week that he will lead the Palmetto Family Council's campaign urging people to vote "yes" on South Carolina's proposed amendment. "In most cases, children need the special abilities that a mother and a father bring to parenthood," McMaster said. The so-called South Carolina Marriage Amendment should be dubbed the "family discrimination amendment," said the Rev. Neal Jones of Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Columbia. "If the proponents truly believe in family values, why don't they value all the families in South Carolina?" Jones asked. Colclough called the amendment "an appeal to raw prejudice." "We have been commissioned to carry the good news to all the world, not to conduct bedroom investigations," said Colclough, pastor of Trinity A.M.E. Church in Columbia. "We as a people of God must have compassion, must be forgiving and must be redemptive. True Christians should vote no."