This tactic, used by pro-SSM activists, reminds us of why North Carolina needs the Marriage Protection Amendment which will be voted upon tomorrow: when activists employ such tactics, what will be standing to defend marriage? Statutory law, or a Constitutional Amendment approved by a majority of North Carolinians?
On May 8th, North Carolinians will decide on a proposed amendment to the state constitution that would ban marriage, civil unions and domestic partnerships for same-sex couples. Beginning the next morning, the WE DO Campaign will visit eight counties where more than forty LGBT couples will apply for marriage licenses in their local communities, with clergy, elected officials, family, and community members accompanying them in support. The couples will be denied licenses because they do not meet the legal requirements for marriage in North Carolina, which stipulate that partners must be of the opposite sex. In each community, the WE DO event will also include a Prayer Service for Reconciliation led by clergy. In select counties, couples and allies will conduct a sit-in at the Register of Deeds Office after the denials occur, as a peaceful act of civil disobedience. -- Southern Equality
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Civil disobedience is by definition not peaceful. It is vengeance.
Little Man: So you now oppose the Manhattan Declaration?
....of course, the difference between the Manhattan Declaration and We Do is not insignificant. The MD actually pledges to ignore and break the law. We Do does not. To illustrate this difference clearly: the MD (and NOM) support town clerks defying the law and denying marriage licenses to legally qualifying same-sex couples. If We Do was committed to the same level of civil disobedience or, in Little Man's words, vengeance as MD, they would be demanding that civil servants break the law and they'd be enlisting equality minded town clerks to defy the law and issue licenses. They are not. In fact, it's the denial of marriage licenses that is the whole point of the protest. It's a symbolic act to highlight the inequity in the law. Remember, it isn't against NC law for a gay couple to ask for a marriage license, it's against the law to issue them one. I'd you'd like to see examples of public employees obeying the law and doing their job even though the law conflicts with their deeply held beliefs, visit the Campaign for Southern Equality's YouTube page. NOM's pseudo-victims like Beforti and the supporters of the Manhattan Declaration should watch and learn.
This group will hide behind the facade of religious authority by holding a protest that includes "a Prayer Service for Reconciliation" for the sake of abolishing the man-woman requirement of marriage law.
Where are the SSMers who so vehemently object to anything religious being included in the public discourse on marriage law?
Right.
B73 did you object to Newsom's pro-SSM tactics at city hall a couple of years ago? Would you object to a mayor doing the same stunt in other cities around the country?
Right.