Two words that have power in, of, and by themselves, but in the same phrase or same sentence, they have resulted in one of the hottest debates on the local, state, and national levels.  The words, “marriage equality,” have caused a few extremist groups to mobilize in a movement to impose their mean-spirited will on everyone, thereby disempowering and disenfranchising even millions more in our states.  The goal of this anti-children, anti-families, anti-equality, anti-gay, anti-American movement is to change our state constitution in such a way as to further deprive all of us, the public, of our human rights and dignity.  Some of these precious rights include the ability to make medical decisions, family medical leave, custody of children, rights of inheritance, taxation, survivors' rights, Social Security and pension benefits, and these are only a few.  There are about 1,100+ federal rights, responsibilities and privileges that come with civil marriage, as well as an additional 400+ state rights.

So, you may think: “This doesn’t affect me because I’m straight.  This is a gay/lesbian issue.”  Wrong, this is an “everybody” issue, which can and probably will affect you in ways you may not have even considered.  Suppose you have a girlfriend/boyfriend and you live together as domestic partners.  You may even have a legal document from your county that certifies your domestic partnership.   It is very possible that this document could be rendered invalid, because the proposed marriage protection amendment will have damaging ramifications on your life.

Or, you may think: “I am not in a certified domestic partnership, so this issue does not concern me and the “marriage amendment” won’t have any affect on my life.”  Wrong, this amendment, although intended to ban same-sex marriage, is about every tax-payer, every person having the same rights and responsibilities. It is intended to prevent us from having and enjoying the benefits that equality brings regardless of sexual orientation. 

Well, think again!  The greatest danger of the proposed constitutional amendment is that it would add discriminatory language to the Florida State Constitution if it is passed by Florida voters.  If this constitutional amendment is passed, not only will thousands of tax-paying gay and lesbian couples forever be denied equal access to civil marriage, but all other forms of legal recognition, including domestic partnerships and civil unions, may no longer be valid or recognized. The bottom line is that millions of adults and children will become second-class citizens who no longer will have the legal protections to which we are entitled right now. It comes to mind that separate is not equal, according to the U.S. Supreme Court (1954).  If this changed, I didn’t get the memo. 

Clearly, this attempted separation of church and state violates our first amendment rights, but it is our responsibility to fully understand these issues and to fight against this vicious attack by many who deem themselves “Christian”.   The goal of this proposed amendment has never really been about marriage.  That’s what the supporters of the amendment want the public, especially the voting public, to believe.  However, there are already laws in our state that “protect” marriage.  The real goal of the amendment is to make sure that anyone who lives in a relationship that is not a heterosexual marriage (“a union of man and woman as husband and wife”) is not entitled to equal rights and protection under the law.   Pure and simple, this is discrimination, which, the last time I checked, is against the law.  See the Florida statutes and the U.S. Constitution for yourselves.

The following states the full text of the Florida Marriage Protection Amendment to be placed on the 2008 ballot:

“BE IT ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE OF FLORIDA THAT:

A new section for Article I is hereby created to add the following:

Inasmuch as marriage is the legal union of only one man and one woman as husband and wife, no other legal union that is treated as marriage or the substantial equivalent thereof shall be valid or recognized.

The proposed ballot summary is as follows:

This amendment protects marriage as the legal union of only one man and one woman as husband and wife and provides that no other legal union that is treated as marriage or the substantial equivalent thereof shall be valid or recognized.”

So, if you think that those two “controversial” words – marriage equality – have the power to cause such heated debate and to fuel even more hatred now, just think about the power of the few words in the proposed amendment will have over our lives.  It is time for us to define ourselves, or suffer the consequences of being defined. 

To get started on your research, here are a few of the many websites where you can find more information and clarity on this and other related issues.  This is not an exhaustive list, but the sites are extremely helpful. 

http://www.eqfl.org/issues/family.php

http://www.hrc.org/

http://nclrights.org/projects/familylaw.htm

http://thetaskforce.org/issues/marriage_and_partnership_recognition

http://www.beyondmarriage.org/full_statement.html

http://www.fusioncoalition.org/

http://knowthyneighbor.blogs.com/florida/2006/06/gay_marriage_eq.html

http://www.equalityinmarriage.org/bm101.html