By L.A. Williams, Correspondent
Christian Action League
ASHEVILLE — Three homosexual couples applied unsuccessfully for marriage licenses at the Buncombe County Register of Deeds office Monday in a demonstration to draw attention to the push for gay marriage in North Carolina and to discourage voters from approving an amendment to the Constitution that would protect the state’s one man-one woman definition.
The demonstration, the first of many planned by The Campaign of Southern Equality’s We Do Campaign, was supported by Representatives Susan Fisher and Patsy Keever, Buncombe County Democrats, as well as Asheville City Council member Gordon Smith in addition to First Congregational United Church of Christ minister Joe Hoffman.
“If anyone still believes that there is no real threat to how marriage is defined in North Carolina, they need look no further than these type of staged events,” said the Rev. Mark Creech, executive director of the Christian Action League. “Our state, the only one in the South without a Constitutional amendment protecting traditional marriage, is now a bigger target than ever. All it would take is one lawsuit and one activist ruling to start the state spiraling toward homosexual marriage to make it the law of the land.”
Organizers of the event on Monday and of many more planned demonstrations including an “interfaith blessing of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered families” in Asheville later this month hope to build support for homosexual marriage. But Tami Fitzgerald of the North Carolina Values Coalition believes the opposite will happen.
She told the media on Monday that she expects the campaign to backfire and instead help galvanize support for the Marriage Protection Amendment.
“Certainly these type of events reveal that voters absolutely must act in May to preserve our state’s traditional and Biblical definition of marriage,” Dr. Creech said. “We cannot pretend that North Carolina is somehow immune to this push from small but vocal homosexual forces.”
He said rather than getting frustrated or intimidated by media attention to such homosexual demonstrations, Christians should be in prayer for the state and nation and should be educating themselves on what marriage means to society to truly grasp what’s at stake.
“We are thankful that our state lawmakers last month voted to give us the opportunity to stand up for marriage,” he added. “That’s what we plan to do in the voter booth, confirm what we already know is the truth: marriage is between one man and one woman.”
