Unfortunate choice of logo there.
Posted on 06/05/2005 12:02:58 AM PDT by AFA-Michigan
The largest organizer of American unions is opposing the Marriage Protection Amendment, though most of its constituents support traditional marriage.
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The AFL-CIO is lobbying against the Marriage Protection Amendment (MPA)—an effort to constitutionally define marriage as between one man and one woman. The organization represents 58 national and international labor unions and more than 13 million workers, but its policies are liberal compared to the people it represents. The march toward the left by a few in leadership misrepresents what most rank-and-file union members hold as deep convictions.
In March 2005, a Gallup/CNN/USA Today poll reported that 68 percent of Americans "think marriages between homosexuals . . . should not be recognized by the law as valid."
State amendments have passed with great success in 18 states. In fact, the MPA passed with 60 percent of the vote in union-friendly Michigan. Other states passed amendments defending traditional marriage by margins that were deflating to homosexual activists.
Mississippi passed with 86 percent of the vote; Georgia with 77 percent; Kentucky, 75 percent and Oklahoma, 76 percent. This new move by the AFL-CIO undermines what is obviously the will of most union workers.
Keeping the AFL-CIO agenda under wraps would be the best way to sneak the high-dollar lobbying past most local labor unions. But pro-family workers aren't going to allow the social agenda of a few to go unnoticed.
Ken Boutwell, a Mississippi union worker with Georgia-Pacific is going on the offensive. He and what he calls "a few men standing with me" have created a Web site to petition John Sweeney, the AFL-CIO president, to change his stand on the issue of marriage.
Though cumbersome to type, http://unionworkersagainstgaymarriage.com is a tool Boutwell hopes workers will use to stop AFL-CIO activism.
"Sweeney has sold us out," Boutwell said. "Unions are supposed to be democratic and give people a choice. When Sweeney and his council speak for 13 million workers about an issue this important . . . he's supposed to represent the body."
An open letter to Sweeney, sent today and signed by pro-family groups and union members across the nation, stated, "We're further troubled by the expectation that you will use the dues and fees you collect as a condition of employment from employees who strongly oppose homosexual and transgender activists' political agenda to pay for your political and lobbying activities in support of that agenda.
"Between now and your July convention, we and the pro-family organizations we represent will . . . do everything in our power to ensure that rank-and-file union members all across America are fully informed of the AFL-CIO's endorsement of homosexual activists' political agenda, particularly your formal opposition to state and federal constitutional protections for the institution of one-man, one-woman marriage."
The agenda the letter speaks of is not hard to find. The AFL-CIO's obvious partisanship is evidenced in its "Pride At Work" constituency group. The group's spring newsletter began by bashing the Bush administration.
"By now, hopefully we have all awoken from our post-election depression-induced slumber. If not, let's wake up, shake off our losses, and ask our friends and co-workers to do the same. The Republican-dominated Congress, feeling frisky from its new gains in the House and the Senate, is trying to barrel through its anti-queer and anti-working class agenda like never before."
Digging around the Web site of "Pride At Work" reveals a blatant activism.
"Are You A Proud Union Queer?" the site asks. "Thinking about getting inked? Well before you take the plunge, maybe you should take a second and try one of Pride At Work's new temporary tattoos, just in time for Gay Pride! The message is simple, 'PROUD UNION QUEER.'"
This message isn't on the front of every union newsletter for a reason said former union negotiator Phil Burress of Citizens for Community Values in Ohio, where the MPA passed at 66 percent.
"It appears that the AFL-CIO wants to keep this a secret," Burress said. "There are no press releases or communications because they know the rank-and-file would be adamantly opposed to negotiating special rights just because someone says they are homosexual.
"Someone's sexual orientation is a private matter and this agenda is opening Pandora's Box."
He said the thicket of issues surrounding sexual orientation range from how to define it, what is contained within the definition and what is outside the mainstream. Many opponents of same-sex marriage cite the fact that there is no academically-accepted definition of sexual orientation, which opens the platform to include pedophiles and polygamists.
Mike Goschka is a Michigan senator in the 32nd district for Saginaw and Gratiot counties. He is a member of the United Steelworkers Union, an affiliate of the AFL-CIO and said he thinks this is an issue much like abortion.
"I was 19 years old and abortion was made legal," Goschka said. "I didn't have a clue back then, but this is on our watch. We simply cannot stand idly by and watch the demise of the culture."
Union members, said Goschka, are common-sense people who know that God never intended for homosexuals to marry.
"The average person in the shop may not be hugely involved in church matters or politics but they have a respect for the things of the Lord. You'd very find few atheists among union members."
Goschka notes that these are not stereotypical "gay bashers" but rather folks that see the natural order of things.
Steve Conner, a United Auto Workers member agrees.
"I understand nuts and bolts you know," Conner said, referring to the unnatural aspect of homosexual unions.
American Axle, Conner's employer, was being pressured by the union to add same-sex marriage benefits. Conner, a union worker on a mission, collected more than 1500 signatures—in a plant with just over 2000 workers—to stop the union from pressing the issue.
"I think it is so wrong," Conner said. "I absolutely feel (union workers) are not informed, (unions) are making decisions behind our backs. If they asked the people they would be overwhelmingly against it."
The AFL-CIO is ignoring the facts in its campaign. Advocates for protecting marriage are armed with research evidence from around the globe. The ammunition is especially powerful when considering children.
"An extensive body of research tells us that children do best when they grow up with both biological parents," wrote Kristin Anderson Moore in the Child Trends Research Brief. "Thus, it is not simply the presence of two parents, as some have assumed, but the presence of two biological parents that seems to support child development."
Mary Parke wrote in "Are Married Parents Really Better for Children?" published by the Center for Law and Social Policy, "Most researchers now agree that together these studies support the notion that, on average, children do best when raised by their two married, biological parents."
Visit the AFL-CIO site to view the resolution. If you'd like to see the letter sent to AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, visit the American Family Association site.
If you'd like to let the AFL-CIO know what you think about its lobbying against the Marriage Protection Amendment, you can call union President John Sweeney at 202-637-5231. Then go to the CitizenLink Action Center to send the union an e-mail.
The old Dons of the labor movement are so insulated they are in their own reality. No wonder Union membership is on the decline when they busy themselves with distractions and side issues.
(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
Is it too much to hope that most big unions will see their red-state, traditional American membership stand up and get rid of their anti-American, anti-culture, leftist puke union "leaders"?
Probably.
Unfortunate choice of logo there.
bump
The AFL-CIO as are most unions, are nothing more than a wing of the DNC. I belong to a union and the literature I get, especially during election cycles, are democratic party propaganda sheets. I have never, ever seen them endorse anyone other than a democrat.
I despise the AFL-CIO with the best of them, but opposition to the Amendment does not equal opposition to marriage. Sheesh.
Bump & Ping
Homosexual Agenda Ping.
Another, longer article about the AFL-CIO's love affair with the "gay" agenda.
More proof of the evil nature of leftists and the Democrat party. They want to implement their agenda from the top down, caring nothing for what the majority of people actually think or want.
Let me know if you want on/off this pinglist.
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