ACLU may sue over Amendment 2
Battleover homosexual ‘marriage’ far from over in ‘Show Me’ state
By Bob Baysinger
Managing Editor
August 17, 2004
JEFFERSON CITY – Missouri voters’ overwhelming approval Aug. 3 of a ban on same-sex “marriages” may still face a court challenge.
Denise Lieberman, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Eastern Missouri, says the timing isn’t right for a legal challenge to the voter-approved amendment (Amendment 2) to the state constitution which defines marriage as being exclusively between a man and a woman. However, a plan of attack for possible action in the future is under discussion.
She said there are four constitutional grounds on which a case might be built, including two components of the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment – the due-process clause, which requires the government to justify the taking of a person’s freedom, and the equal-protection clause, which declares that state laws must treat individuals the same as others in similar circumstances.
Also possible, Lieberman said, are challenges based on religious freedom or freedom of expression.
The Missouri constitutional ban on same-sex “marriages” was scheduled to take effect Sept. 2. A federal judge, however, has honored the state Democratic Party’s request to put the Aug. 3 primary election results on hold until the question of counting provisional ballots is resolved.
The Missouri constitutional amendment defining marriage as “only between a man and a woman” passed by a 71-29 percent margin and attracted more voters than any other issue on the primary ballot. Only one non-controversial ballot issue in 1998 earned a wider victory margin in recent history. Almost 43 percent of Missouri’s nearly 3.5 million registered voters cast ballots, surpassing the previous primary election high of 36.5 percent in August 1992.
The landslide vote for Amendment 2 makes Missouri the first state to define marriage in the state constitution as solely between a man and a woman since a Massachusetts court ruled last year that its state-mandated ban was unconstitutional. Four other states have already added the ban to their constitutions, and Louisiana voters will decide the fate of a marriage amendment on Sept. 18.
The MBC was at the forefront of the effort to educate Baptists and other voters about the marriage amendment. The convention’s efforts included prayer groups throughout the state, e-mail campaigns, informational material for churches and thousands of Missouri Baptists urging other church members, relatives and neighbors to vote.
“I believe Missouri Baptists played a strong role in the marriage amendment victory,” said David Clippard, MBC executive director. “I think Missouri Baptists got informed and began speaking to friends, neighbors and church members. I have received an incredible amount of feedback from pastors and laymen who have said it is time for Baptists to come together. And they did.”
Missouri Baptists played a key role earlier this year in urging the General Assembly to place the measure on the ballot. Convention leaders lobbied legis-lators; 10,000 church members signed a petition urging the legislature to put the proposed amendment on the ballot this year; and the convention’s newspaper, The Pathway, published pro-amendment and voter registration editorials.
Kerry Messer, a lobbyist for the MBC’s Christian Life Commission, said the massive vote for traditional marriage made a statement to judges and other elected officials.
“The church universal in Missouri has come to a point where it has said that we’re not going to be put in a bottle any more,” Messer said. “We know what our role is. We’re going to speak up for righteousness, and we have done so in this election.”
National homosexual rights groups spent more than $100,000 to influence the amendment vote in Missouri.
The marriage debate intensified in Missouri last year after a landmark court decision in Massachusetts cleared the way for same-sex “weddings” in that state. The Massachusetts action prompted several states to push for constitutional amendments to ban homosexual “marriage.”
Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, Montana, Oklahoma, Oregon and Utah will vote on the issue on Nov. 2.
Rodney Albert, chairman of the Missouri Baptist Convention’s Christian Life Commission, said the Missouri vote reinforces the truth that Americans are against gay marriage.
“And no federal judge doing legal gymnastics now can tell us otherwise,” he said. “Common sense prevailed. People with strong morals – whether those morals were learned from the Bible or common sense – realized that there is something intrinsically wrong with gay marriage.
“The people have spoken in Missouri and it is no longer a guess as to whether or not we are against gay marriages. Missouri has set a pattern that I am sure other states will follow.”
Messer hopes the marriage amendment campaign produced a paradigm switch in Missouri Baptist pulpits.
“I think many churches have realized that it is not a sin to address cultural issues from the pulpit,” Messer said. “If Christians don’t start taking a stand – as they have this time – we will continue down the path we have been going. We need to pick up on this lesson and start reclaiming our culture for Christ.”