Equality Campaign-DontAmend.com   

DontAmend.com Responds to Anti-Gay Remarks By President in State of the Union Address

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 21 /PRNewswire/ -- Activists demanding equal legal rights for Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals and Transgendered people reacted angrily to the President's implicit call during last night's State of the Union address for a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage.
   

"To say that by supporting legal equality, the members of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts are 'forcing their arbitrary will' upon America, shows just how oblivious this President is on civil rights issues," said Robin Tyler, the National Co-Chair of DontAmend.com. "For the President to denounce them as 'activist' judges because they pushed for equality is a contemptible way of undermining the court. Some of us remember that it was just this sort of 'activism' that gave us Brown v. the Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas. The President should wake up to the fact that the true issue then and now is fairness, and equal protection under the law. For him to say that the rights of a majority can only be protected by denying rights to a
minority is an insult to the very constitution he is threatening to change."

Tyler's organization, DontAmend.com, is a national grassroots coalition of activists dedicated to preventing a proposed constitutional amendment that would deny marriage rights to same-sex couples. It has spearheaded a call by activists in dozens of cities to hold pro-equal rights rallies and town hall meetings around the country during the week of Feb. 9-15.
   

"I was most disturbed by the profound contradictions in the President's speech," said Rev. Troy D. Perry, longtime activist for same-sex marriage equality and founder of the 43,000-member United Federation of Metropolitan Community Churches.  "President Bush called on the American people to respect differences in our culture, but failed to respect the differences found in our LGBT communities. History will prove him wrong on the marriage issue. The right way to defend marriage is to assure it is an equal right for all people, including gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender persons. History will show that President Bush took steps backward at a time society was moving forward."

"I am more committed than ever to the 'Freedom To Marry' actions and rallies scheduled for Feb. 9-15," Perry added. "I encourage all people of good will to participate in these public events being sponsored by DontAmend.com and other grassroots groups across the United States."