Testimony of the Reverend Robert M. Hardies
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| The Reverend Robert M. Hardies |
At the Religious Briefing Against the Federal Marriage Amendment
For Senate Staff Members
The Rev. Robert M. Hardies
Senior Minister, All Souls Church, Unitarian, Washington, DC
Senate Briefing on the Federal Marriage Amendment
Washington, DC
May 22, 2006
My name is Robert Hardies and I'm the senior minister of All Souls Church, Unitarian here in Washington, DC. The Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations unequivocally supports same sex marriage, and for many years, now, our ministers have blessed same sex unions with the same rituals as heterosexual marriages.
It is our belief that the church's calling is to bless ALL that is holy. And what is more holy than the mutual love between two human beings? We affirm that the nurturing and fulfilling love that same sex couples find in their relationships is, indeed, one of the innumerable expressions of God's love.
In an effort to put a human face on this issue of marriage equality, I'd like to share with you the stories of some members of my church. Call it a Tale of Two Families.
A few years ago, Steve and Barbara celebrated their 40 th wedding anniversary with a party at All Souls. Forty years was no small milestone for the couple. You see, Steve is white and Barbara is black and when they tried to get married 40-some years ago in the state of Virginia they were told, "No!" They were told that a white person marrying a black person violated not only the state's anti-miscegenation laws, but the sanctity of marriage itself.
Like so many couples back then, Steve and Barbara crossed over the Potomac into the District of Columbia to get married. Pretty soon they moved here so as not to be rousted out of bed and arrested like other interracial couples in Virginia. Steve and Barbara know that the issue of marriage equality has a longer history than some of us are willing to admit.
Kevin and Paul are another couple in my church. They've celebrated a milestone, too. Not too long ago we held a blessing in church for their adopted daughter. You should've seen the crowd after the service. Dozens of would-be aunts and uncles gathered around the family, clamoring to hold the little girl. Kevin and Paul are thankful for the love and support they find at church, because the state still doesn't recognize their family as legitimate.
What are the lessons of the Tale of Two Families? I see at least two. First, as I reflect on the struggles of Steve and Barbara and Kevin and Paul, I'm reminded that—so often—the human heart is a better judge of love than either the state or the church.
And secondly, I'm reminded of a shameful pattern in our nation of demonizing our fellow citizens for political gain.
I don't want to impugn the integrity of any particular sponsor of this legislation, because I KNOW people of good faith differ on the issue of gay marriage. I know because some of them are my parishioners, and in the privacy of my study, I've helped them struggle to find moral clarity on this issue.
Those who support the Federal Marriage Amendment do so using the language of moral values. I'd like, for a moment, to focus the bright light of moral clarity on the politics behind the Federal Marriage Amendment.
There is not anyone in this room or on this hill who is naïve enough to believe that the introduction of the Federal Marriage Amendment now in two consecutive election cycles is anything but a politically motivated effort to win votes by demonizing a class of citizens.
There are those who say to me, "Well, Rob, that's politics. In an election year you can't blame us for tossing a little red meat to our base." I say to them, "When your red meat are my parishioners—people I love and whom I'm responsible to God for caring for—then you'd better believe I'm going to blame you and point out your hypocrisy."
For a United States Senator to write discrimination into the Constitution for political gain is shameful, and a violation that Senator's stewardship of the Constitution. But to use a class of human beings as part of that political game is beyond shameful. In my religious tradition we believe that human beings—all of us, not just some—are created in the image of God. Therefore we believe every human being possesses sacred worth and dignity. And therefore to demonize a human being for political gain, to use them as a means to political ends. Well that's not just shameful, that's the very definition of sin.
So here we are again. Many of us were here two years ago during the last election cycle. And we're here today during this election cycle. And I have no doubt that we'll all be here again talking about the Federal Marriage Amendment two years from now in 2008. But I will work and pray for the day when the leadership of this country rises above the sinful politics of demonization and instead sees fit to shower the blessings of this nation on all of our families. Thank you.
UU Ministers Travel to DC to Advocate Against Discrimination in the Constitution
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