NEW YORK (BP)–Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s public opposition to “gay marriage” has drawn the ire of a prominent homosexual leader in New York state, who is urging homosexuals not to purchase tickets to fundraisers supporting her re-election.
Alan Van Capelle, executive director of the homosexual group Empire State Pride Agenda, sent out an e-mail Feb. 10 calling Clinton, D.-N.Y., a “complete disappointment” who “does not deserve an LGBT fundraiser” (the acronym for “lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender”). The story about the e-mail was first reported by the New York Observer’s Politicker. Van Capelle confirmed that he indeed wrote the e-mail.
“Supporting an LGBT fundraiser for Hillary Clinton will actually hurt our community,” Van Capelle wrote, according to the Politicker. “It will send a message to other elected officials that you can be working against us during this critical time and not suffer a negative pushback from the gay community. We have become a community that throws money at politicians and we demand nothing in return. And that’s what we get — nothing. It’s the wrong message to send.”
Van Capelle said he would vote for Clinton this year, but that he simply would not support her financially. He also criticized her support for the Defense of Marriage Act, the 1996 law that gives states the option of not recognizing another state’s “gay marriages” and prevents the federal government from recognizing them as well.
New York State Sen. Thomas K. Duane, a Democrat who is also homosexual, said he still supports Clinton.
“Would we like her to be 100 percent on the marriage issue? Yes,” he told The New York Times. “But it’s important for us to continue educating her on the issue.”
Clinton opposes a marriage amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
VA. AMENDMENT ADVANCES — In a move supported by both sides of the issue, the Virginia legislature changed the ballot language of a proposed constitutional marriage amendment so that the text of the entire amendment appears on the ballot this November, instead of just a summary.
The bill passed the Senate Feb. 17, the House of Delegates Feb. 20. The change does not impact the text of the amendment itself. The bill now goes to Democratic Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, whose signature officially would place the amendment on the ballot. The bill that Kaine will consider deals only with the ballot language and the date of the election. A separate bill that contained the amendment passed the House and Senate and does not require Kaine’s signature.
The proposed amendment says that “only a union between one man and one woman may be a marriage valid in or recognized by this Commonwealth and its political subdivisions.” It further says the state cannot “create or recognize a legal status for relationships of unmarried individuals that intends to approximate the design, qualities, significance, or effects of marriage.”
Opponents of the amendment had argued the original ballot language was misleading. Kaine said he opposes “gay marriage” but that he fears the other part of the amendment would have unintended consequences by hindering the ability of unmarried couples to enter into legal contracts.
With Kaine’s signature, Virginia would become the sixth state to place a marriage amendment on the ballot for 2006, joining Alabama, Idaho, South Carolina, South Dakota and Tennessee. Nineteen states already have marriage amendments.
COLO. AMENDMENT POPULAR — A February poll conducted for The Denver Post showed 55 percent of Colorado registered voters supporting a proposed constitutional marriage amendment, with 36 percent opposing it. The poll of 625 registered votes was conducted by Mason-Dixon.
Conservative groups in Colorado hope to gather enough signatures to place an amendment on the November ballot.
NO ‘MARRIAGE’ FOR BOY GEORGE — Boy George, the 1980s British pop star and singer for Culture Club, won’t be getting “married” anytime soon. A homosexual, he told the London Evening Standard that marriage is a heterosexual institution that shouldn’t be mimicked by homosexuals.
“Gay unions, what is that all about?” he was quoted as saying. “I haven’t been invited to any ceremonies and I wouldn’t go anyway. The idea that gay people have to mimic what obviously doesn’t work for straight people anymore, I think is a bit tragic. I’m looking forward to gay divorces.”
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For more information about the national debate over “gay marriage,” visit http://www.bpnews.net/samesexmarriage
