JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (ABP) — The Florida Baptist Convention is among a coalition of organizations that announced, on Valentine's Day, a drive to amend the Florida Constitution to ban same-sex marriage.
At a Feb. 14 news conference, an alliance calling itself the Florida Coalition to Protect Marriage announced it would attempt to collect more than 611,000 signatures on a petition to get the measure placed on the statewide ballot in 2006. The coalition includes the Florida convention, the Christian Coalition of Florida and other conservative and religious groups.
The measure would alter the state's charter to ban gay marriage. It also would declare “no other legal union that is treated as marriage or the substantial equivalent thereof shall be valid or recognized.” Therefore, it would presumably ban marriage-like civil unions for same-sex couples or unwed heterosexuals as well.
Gay-rights supporters said the law is both unnecessary, because state law already bans same-sex marriage, and mean-spirited, since it also would ban civil unions.
“It is morally reprehensible that the extremists have chosen Valentine's Day, a day on which people celebrate their love for each other, to launch their bigoted attack on our relationships,” said Nadine Smith, executive director of the statewide gay-rights group Equality Florida, in a press release issued Feb. 14.
“The impact of this kind of attack is very real,” Smith continued. “Families will be harmed. Couples who love each other and take care of each other need legal protections. It is morally wrong for the state to get in the way of people taking care of each other, including same-sex partners.”
But in a statement — posted on their website at Florida4Marriage.org — amendment supporters defended the proposal. “We wish to see marriage established as it was intended by nature, biology, tradition and just common sense — between one man and one woman,” the statement reads. “Gay-identified persons should have all the same rights as everyone else in a free society. However, no one has the right to wholesale redefine natural marriage and then force that definition upon the rest of society.”
Bill Bunkley, legislative consultant for the Florida Baptist Convention, said the group would attempt to gather signatures through its churches — which boast around 1 million members in total. However, he noted, no church would be required to participate in the drive.
“This is probably one of the cornerstone issues that we may face in our life here in Florida,” Bunkley said. He noted that organizers of the petition drive would shoot for a goal higher than the 611,001 signatures required to get on the ballot — possibly as high as 800,000 or even 1 million — because he anticipates aggressive attempts to disqualify signatures. The deadline for collecting the signatures is at the end of February 2006.
Bunkley also said circulating the petition in churches offers “an excellent opportunity for Florida Baptists to register to vote,” since only registered voters can sign the petition.
However, the amendment campaign has not been endorsed by Gov. Jeb Bush (R). On the day the groups announced their petition drive, Bush echoed comments he made in November after messengers to the Florida Baptist Convention annual meeting endorsed the amendment. Then, Bush called it “unnecessary.”
During a Feb. 14 appearance in Jacksonville, Bush reportedly said he was waiting on one of the pending court cases challenging the state's existing anti-gay-marriage laws to succeed before he felt the need to support the amendment. “Until such time as I can see that there is that threat looming, then I believe the constitution shouldn't be changed unless it is necessary,” he said.
But Bunkley said that “was a softer response than his initial response in November…. Clearly, if one of the pending DOMA [state Defense of Marriage Act] cases in Florida were to go south this afternoon, the governor, I believe would be the first one in line to join our effort after being notified of that.”
If passed, Florida would join 17 other states that have already passed amendments banning same-sex marriage. Recently, Virginia legislators gave the green light to a similar amendment.