Op-Ed Piece for the Atlanta Journal Constitution

States Facing Constitutional Amendments Banning Same-sex Marriage UU Involvement • California • Florida • Georgia • Maryland • Massachusetts • New York • Oregon • Virginia • Washington • Complete Freedom to Marry Coverage

Submitted by the North Georgia Unitarian Universalist
Parish Clergy Group*
October, 2004

I promise to love and care for you,
Through times of joy and times of sorrow,
To rejoice when you are happy,
And grieve when you suffer,
To share your interests,
And hopes for the future,
To try to understand you,
Even when I do not agree,
To do all in my power
To help you be your true self,
The person God calls you to be,
In all this, I ask God’s help,
Now and in the days to come.

As clergy we are fortunate to be with people when they say these type of words to each other when they stand before their family, their friends and their God and make public their love and commitment to each other. In some religious traditions these words could only be said between a man and a woman in a marriage or commitment ceremony. In other religious traditions, including Unitarian Universalism, the tradition we serve, words like these are said by both heterosexual and homosexual couples all the time. Couples who share the same love, the same commitment, the same blessing from their religious community, and the same intention to spend their lives together, but who do not share the same rights, responsibilities and benefits that come with marriage and are granted by the state. Rights that include being able to sit at the bedside of your beloved when he or she is seriously ill or maybe near death, or passing on your assets, or ensuring that your children will be able to continue to live in their home, if one of you should die.

Same-gender marriage is illegal in the state of Georgia. On November 2, Georgians will be asked to vote on Proposition 1, whether or not “the Constitution be amended so as to provide that this state shall recognize as marriage only the union of man and woman?" The people of Georgia will not see on the ballot the rest of what they are voting for or against. The part that says: “No union between persons of the same sex shall be recognized by this state as entitled to the benefits of marriage.” Or that, “The courts of this state shall have no jurisdiction…”

Why are we being asked to amend our state constitution and vote for something that is already illegal? Why are we being asked to vote to potentially stop benefits and rights that same gender couples are already receiving from their workplaces? Why are we being asked to vote to eliminate the judicial branch of government from future decisions regarding the legality of same gender marriages and unions in our state?

We believe the answer is simple. Because some people, mainly for religious reasons, believe that homosexuals do not deserve the same rights and responsibilities as heterosexuals. And because they fear that one day a judge may see the unfairness and injustice of discriminating against one group of people because of who they choose to love and spend their life with.

We believe each religious tradition has the right to bestow the blessings of marriage on whomever their religion sees fit to be blessed. We do not believe the state has the right – nor should it have the right – to build discrimination against a specific group of people, or a specific branch of government, into the constitution.

History has shown us time and time again that one generation’s laws, often based on the so called religious values of the day, become another generation’s embarrassment. In our country’s history we can look back at witch trials, slavery, groups of people being denied the right to vote, marry or congregate based on the color of their skin or gender as examples when discrimination and hatred have replaced love, acceptance and equal rights for all as the state’s – and therefore the people’s – values and legacy.

We do not wish to pass on this legacy of discrimination to future generations. So on Sunday October 10 we will stand with religious communities throughout Georgia and participate in Georgians Against Discrimination’s “Sabbath Against Discrimination”. In our Unitarian Universalist congregations we will each wrap a rainbow-colored ribbon of love around our buildings and declare our sacred spaces to be “Discrimination-free zones”. We will fight against Proposition 1 because discrimination of any kind does not belong in our places of worship, our constitution or the state of Georgia which we all call home.

*North Georgia Unitarian Universalist Parish Clergy Group:

Rev. Joan Armstrong
Rev. Glenda Gray
Rev. Rhett Baird
Rev. Marti Keller
Rev. Terre Balof
Rev. Don Randall
Rev. Victoria Clair
Rev. Dana Reynolds
Rev. Edward Frost
Rev. Roy Reynolds
Rev. Paula Gable
Rev. Don Southworth
Rev. Greg Ward

Unitarian Universalist Association
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