Capitol rally urges legislators to protect traditional marraige
- Aug 21, 2007
Frankfort—Braving 95 degree heat, several hundred Kentuckians gathered outside the Capitol in Frankfort Aug. 13 for a marriage rally.
Organized by the Family Foundation of Kentucky, the one-hour rally included brief messages by Kentucky Baptist Convention President Darren Gaddis and fellow Kentucky Baptist pastor Ronnie Mayes.
The rally was billed as an effort “to encourage state legislators to take action to stop the University of Louisville and the University of Kentucky from redefining marriage by offering domestic partner insurance benefits to unmarried couples.”
Kentucky Attorney General Greg Stumbo ruled earlier this summer that the two state schools could not offer health insurance and other benefits to domestic partners in light of a 2004 constitutional amendment that defines marriage as being between one man and one woman.
Since his ruling, however, neither Stumbo nor the Kentucky General Assembly has taken action to enforce the ruling. With a special session of the legislature set for this week, pro-marriage advocates are seeking to encourage legislators to address the issue.
“We are here for marriage,” Kent Ostrander, executive director of the Family Foundation, told the crowd. “We are here to affirm the 2004 Marriage Protection Amendment. We are here to protect the institution of marriage that some are trying to encroach.”
Several legislators, including Sen. Vernie McGaha, who has led the legislative effort to protect traditional marriage, also briefly addressed the crowd.
“It’s a sad day that we have to do this,” McGaha declared. “I thought we had already spoken in 2004.
“Where’s the uproar?” he asked. “We’ve got to keep the issue alive.”
Gaddis, pastor of Central Baptist Church in Corbin, cited Jesus’ parable of the talents as he urged legislators and citizens to “do well” and “do right.”
“A couple of our universities have decided that what you think is not all that important,” Gaddis said. “Seventy-five percent of us stood up and said one man/one woman—that’s a marriage and nothing else. … The people of Kentucky, we want traditional marriage to be protected and we want no alternatives to that.”
Insisting that leaders of UK and U of L “are breaking the law and thwarting the will of the people,” Gaddis asked, “Who will hold them accountable? We need statesmen who will stand up and do what they know in their hearts is right.”
Mayes, pastor of Rose Hill Baptist Church in Ashland, said rally participants “are here to stand for God’s glory and God’s righteousness.”
“We’re intelligent enough to know that domestic partnership is a backdoor approach to undermine the sacredness of marriage,” he said. “We’re here to stand for the laws and the constitution of our great commonwealth.”
Warning that “our entire legal system is at stake,” Mayes concluded, “We’re here to stand. We’re not going away. We’re taking names and we’re going to vote.”
Urging supporters to contact their legislators, Ostrander said individuals can express their views on the issue by calling the legislative message line at (800) 372-7181.
This article is reprinted from the August 21, 2007, issue of the Western Recorder, the newspaper of the Kentucky Baptist Convention.
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