I get it that the advocates of same sex marriage don’t like to admit this, but:
the movement for natural marriage is a genuine rainbow coalition. Our movement cuts across race, religion, and ethnicity. Here is more evidence, from Rhode Island. This Hispanic Pastors Coalition held a prayer rally in favor of natural marriage. look here. for the video.
In Maryland, the AfricanAmerican churches turned out in force against redefining marriage. Are all these people to be dismissed as “bigots?” According to the Baltimore Sun:
African-American churches proved another forceful voice of opposition.
“Black churches have never asked us for anything,” Del. Cheryl Glenn said during Friday’s debate. “They are asking us now, ‘Don’t use the word marriage.'” …
As the gay marriage bill appeared to move toward passage, lawmakers said they began hearing about the issue in church nearly every Sunday.
Del. Talmadge Branch said his pastor at Israel Baptist Church in Baltimore City lobbied him heavily. The Baltimore Democrat said leaders at other churches called him out from the pulpit during services.
The Rev. Franklin Lance, pastor at Mount Lebanon Baptist Church in Baltimore, said members asked questions about gay marriage at Bible study.
“From my perspective just in talking to my congregants, we have simply been saying that we believe that marriage should be defined as man and woman,” Lance said. “This is not to be negative toward or restricted toward or biased toward anyone else. We do believe that is sacred. We believe it’s holy. We believe it’s the first institution ordained by Christ.”
The Baptist Press reported a few more details:
The opposition from black churches, particularly those in Prince George’s County, became so significant that The Washington Post devoted a March 8 story to the issue.
Del. Emmett Burns, a member of the black caucus and an outspoken opponent of the bill, said he was called the “n-word” for his stance. He also said he was offended by comparisons between the civil rights movement and the “gay marriage” movement.
“Show me your Selma, Alabama,” he said during debate. “… [The bill] violates natural law. It always denies a child either a father or a mother. It promotes the homosexual lifestyle. It turns a moral wrong into a civil right. … [If the bill passes] children will be taught that the homosexual lifestyle is on par with the heterosexual lifestyle.”A prominent Southern Baptist pastor, Robert Anderson Jr., pastor of Colonial Baptist Church in Randallstown, Md., told Baptist Press in February that he, too, found comparisons between civil rights and “gay marriage” offensive.
“We didn’t choose to be born black. To be black or African American is not sin,” Anderson told Baptist Press. “The fact that we fought for civil rights, we were just fighting for justice for any man, any woman — regardless of their skin color. … To try to create a system and special laws for a group of citizens that are living in immorality and wanting to force all of us to embrace that as if it is morally equivalent, that is wrong.”