Posted on 07/15/2004 8:58:23 AM PDT by areafiftyone
Black Group To Debate 'Gay' Marriage at Town Hall July 22; Forum Will Explore Impact On Black Families
7/15/2004 11:37:00 AM
To: National Desk
Contact: Ermias Alemayehu of the Brotherhood Organization of A New Destiny, 323-782-1980, Ext. 109, 213-804-1872 (mobile) or bond@bondinfo.org
LOS ANGELES, July 15 /U.S. Newswire/ -- BOND, the Brotherhood Organization of A New Destiny, will host a town hall meeting on "Same-Sex Marriage and the Impact on Black Families" and the Federal Marriage Amendment on Thursday, July 22, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. PST. The event will be held at the BOND headquarters, 6146 West Pico Blvd., Los Angeles, Calif. (S.E. Corner of Pico and La Cienega).
Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson, founder and president of BOND says, "Homosexual marriage is not about family, it's not about love, it's not about civil-rights, it's about sex -- nothing else. You cannot get love from a homosexual relationship. Two men and two women living together do not make up a family. A family consists of one man, a woman and children."
Patrick Rooney, columnist for The Washington Dispatch, agrees. He believes, "Homosexual marriage is an abomination before God and a perversion before man."
Homosexual activists see it differently, "Marriage is a bond between two people that love one another albeit gender, orientation, race, color, or any other label, "says Reverend Elder Claude E. Bowen, Unity Fellowship Church. Gay activist Valerie Wagner agrees. She says, "It's unconscionable that black folks, given our struggle for equal rights, would support legalized discrimination against any group."
In 2000, more than 60 percent of black Californians supported Proposition 22, a statewide initiative to recognize marriage as only between a man and a woman.
Austin Dragon, president of the South Central Republican Club, says, "I find it offensive that they (homosexuals) equate the civil rights struggles of blacks to gay rights."
Jasmyne Cannick, NBJC (National Black Justice Coalition) board member argues, "We (homosexuals) pay taxes like everyone else. To deny us the 1,049 basic rights and privileges that come with marriage is to deny us our civil rights as human beings and we are not going to take it anymore!"
Yesterday, efforts to pass a constitutional amendment that would effectively ban same-sex marriage failed in the U.S. Senate. The proposed amendment was 12 votes shy of the required 60 votes needed to pass.
Joe Hicks, vice president of Community Advocates, Inc. said, "If we legally sanction same-sex marriages, we then open the floodgates for other unions involving incest, polygamy, or others that both common sense and the law now consider improper."
The panelists for the town hall event include: Patrick Rooney, columnist, The Washington Dispatch; Austin Dragon, president, South Central Republican Club; Joe Hicks, vice president of Community Advocates, Inc.; Reverend Elder Claude E. Bowen, Unity Fellowship Church; Valerie Wagner, gay activist; and Sylvia Rhue, coalition manager for the California Freedom to Marry Coalition.
The town hall is the first of a series sponsored by BOND, to bring attention to issues impacting black families. Rev. Peterson will be the moderator for this event.
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BOND is a nonprofit organization dedicated to "Rebuilding the Family by Rebuilding the Man." Since 1990, BOND has been helping families and individuals with their unique programs and services. Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson is also the author of the book SCAM: How the Black Leadership Exploits Black America (WND Books).
Wow! Cool!
Best wishes to BOND and their supporters.
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