Marriage amendment

The Federal Marriage Amendment

House vote on the Federal Marriage Amendment scheduled for next week [7-15-06]

Clergy for Fairness urges: Contact Congress to oppose writing discrimination into our Constitution

This letter has gone to those who signed on to the "Open Letter to the U.S. House of Representatives opposing the Federal Marriage Amendment."

Thank you for standing up for individual rights and religious liberty by signing the "Open Letter to the U.S. House of Representatives opposing the Federal Marriage Amendment." The House of Representatives will be voting on the Federal Marriage Amendment NEXT WEEK!

To date, more than 2,000 clergy and religious leaders have signed the Open Letter. We have your signature, but here are four important actions you can take today to help prevent writing discrimination into the Constitution:

. Help us spread the word to gain additional Clergy and Religious Leader signatures in the next few days. Please reach out to your ecumenical community and clergy networks to ask them to sign the Open Letter.

. Encourage your congregation to oppose the Federal Marriage Amendment.

. Use our action alert to email your Representatives directly. Ask your friends and family to also visit the site and contact their Representatives online.

. Write a letter to the editor. As a religious leader you have a unique voice in the debate on the Federal Marriage Amendment. The Clergy for Fairness website provides tools for writing letters to the editors of your local newspapers.

In the past few weeks, Clergy for Fairness has received much press attention from the New York Times, the Associated Press, and many other media outlets highlighting the fact that religious leaders can and will respectfully disagree about marriage but believe it is wrong to write discrimination into the Constitution.

Please visit www.clergyforfairness.org to find out more about what you and your faith community can do. This site now contains additional updated resources for your use, such as:

	Talking points about the threat this amendment poses to religious liberty.
	Sample sermons from a variety of faith traditions.
	Ways to get more involved including tips on writing letters to the editor.
	Denominational statements opposing the Federal Marriage Amendment.
	Photos and statements from the Clergy for Fairness Press Event and Lobby Day in Washington, D.C., on June 5th.

Again, please reach out to other leaders in your ecumenical community and encourage them to sign the letter. Encourage your congregation to take action— make calls and complete the action alerts on www.clergyforfairness.org. Your collective voices and actions are vitally important to defeat the Federal Marriage Amendment. With your help and that of hundreds of your colleagues, we can prevent discrimination from being enshrined in the Constitution. Thank you again for taking a stand.

Sincerely,

Clergy For Fairness
feedback@clergyforfairness.org

Homosexuality and the Bible are debated as vote comes June 6 on "marriage amendment" [6-4-06]

Associated Press writer Richard N. Ostling outlines briefly the main arguments on both sides of the debates about same-sex marriage, with The Religious Coalition for Marriage gathering an unusual collection of churches demanding a constitutional amendment, and opposition to such an amendment being coordinated by Clergy for Fairness, which draws support from the Episcopal Church majority, United Church of Christ, Unitarian Universalist Association, liberal Judaism and the largely gay Metropolitan Community Churches, among others. The full report >>

Senate turns back Administration pressure to discriminate against same-sex partners
[7-14-04]

EPF applauds Senate vote to reject Federal Marriage Amendment

Press release from Equal Partners in Faith, 7-14-04

Senate proponents failed to muster support for a Federal Marriage Amendment that would have written discrimination into the Constitution. By a vote of 50-48, Republicans fell short of the 60 votes needed to clear a procedural hurdle raised by Democrats.

"Progressive people of faith were victorious today," said Dr. Sylvia Rhue, director of Equal Partners in Faith. "We spoke out against discrimination, and our voices were heard!"

"Make no mistake the administration was pushing this proposal to rally their Religious Right base for the November elections," said Dr. Rhue. "This was not an attempt to protect the sanctity of marriage, but to drive a wedge between people, solely for partisan advantage."

Polls show most Americans oppose same-sex marriage, but are split on whether a constitutional ban is needed. Surveys also find voters believe many other issues are more important this election year -- such as health care and national security.

"Progressive people of faith must remain vigilant," said Dr. Rhue. "Congress is considering other measures that would remove from the Court its ability to rule on marriage equality issues.

For other comments:

	Human Rights Campaign
	Americans United
	Click here to see how your Senators voted.
	Ray Bagnuolo, of That All May Freely Serve, suggests that people e-mail their senators to express appreciation for their votes.

Click here for links to the websites of all senators, and you should find an e-mail link there.

Or even easier, go to the website of the Presbyterian Washington Office, find the little blue box on the right side of the home page that says "CONTACT CONGRESS." Enter your ZIP code, click on GO -- and there you are!

"EQUAL PARTNERS in FAITH is a multi-racial national network of religious leaders and people of faith committed to equality and diversity. Our diverse faith traditions and shared religious values lead us to affirm and defend the equality of all people, regardless of religion, race, ability, gender, sexual orientation or gender identity. As people of faith, we actively oppose the manipulation of religion to promote inequality and exclusion."

An action alert message about the Federal Marriage Amendment from our friends at Human Rights Campaign

Received from Equal Partners in Faith, April 3, 2003

[Posted here 4-7-04]

Dear friends,

Are you feeling complacent about the Federal anti-Marriage Amendment? Think it's not a threat? That the Senate or House would never pass it?

Think again.

Groups like the Family Research Council, Concerned Women for American, Focus on the Family, and the American Family Association are banking on our community and our straight allies being silent or being lulled into a false sense of security that Congress would not write discrimination into the United States Constitution. And they will stop at nothing.

These groups all have millions of dollars -- more than all GLBT advocacy groups combined -- between them that they can use for a gigantic media blitz the week before the FMA comes up for a vote in Congress.

Here's the Family Research Council's preferred version of an amendment: "Marriage in the United States, whether entered into within or outside of the United States, shall consist only of the legal union of one man and one woman. The uniting of persons of the same or opposite-sex in a civil union, domestic partnership, or other similar relationship as a substitution for such marriage shall not be valid or recognized in the United States."

The House held the first of a series of five hearings on the discriminatory Federal Marriage Amendment today - Tuesday, March 30, 2004. HRC was there - we held a press conference, we're working with our allies, and we are lobbying today with families who are constituents of the members of the subcommittee.

As we saw yesterday in Massachusetts, if lawmakers throw a "civil unions compromise" into the mix, some of our allies might be inclined to support a discriminatory amendment. Some members of Congress are looking at just such a "compromise amendment" - but it's no compromise. It's still discrimination. (For the full story on what happened in Massachusetts, visit www.MassEquality.org)

We need to make our voices heard NOW - before Members of Congress have made up their minds. And this week, we're asking you to take a specific action to help -- to hand-write a letter and mail it to your Senators' and Representative's district offices. See the sidebar on the right for a step-by- step guide.

Last week we asked some of you who are constituents of Judiciary Committee members to call Congress. Thousands of folks made phone calls - and we heard that several offices got literally hundreds of calls. But we need more. So today, write your handwritten letter, mail it to the district office, and then phone your Representative and Senators.

Call the Capitol Switchboard toll-free at 1-877-762-8762 - and then let us know that you called by e-mailing us at field@hrc.org.

With your help, we can win this fight. Please make sure that you take action today!

Sincerely, Seth Kilbourn and the activist team at the Human Rights Campaign

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WRITE A HANDWRITTEN LETTER TO YOUR SENATORS AND REPRESENTATIVES TODAY!

Why a handwritten letter? Congressional offices receive a lot of e-mail and faxes - but not as many handwritten letters these days. Some Members of Congress tell their staff they personally want to read every handwritten letter that comes in. And we hear that our side is sending less handwritten mail - we need to change that!

1. SAMPLE LETTER

For a sample letter go to: www.hrcactioncenter.org/actioncenter/sample_letter.html Use it as a starting point - make it personal and tell your story.

2. SEND YOUR LETTER TO THE DISTRICT OFFICE

Why the district office? Mail sent to Washington, DC goes through a screening process that can take up to 8 weeks. If you send your letter to the district office, then it will reach your legislators much more quickly. That's critical for this fight -- it seems likely we will face a vote on the Federal anti- Marriage Amendment by the end of the summer. To look up the district offices addresses for your Representative and Senators go to: www.capwiz.com/hrc/dbq/officials/

3. TELL US YOU SENT A HANDWRITTEN LETTER

Tell us you sent a letter so we can keep count. To tell us you wrote and sent a handwritten letter go to: www.hrcactioncenter.org/campaign/letter_fma

4. TELL YOUR FRIENDS TO WRITE A LETTER

Between now and the vote, we need literally hundreds and thousands of letters pouring into Congressional offices. To tell your friends today go to: www.hrcactioncenter.org/campaign/letter_fma/forward

5. DOWNLOAD HRC's NEW MARRIAGE PAMPHLET

A pamphlet that answers many common questions and concerns about marriage equality for same-sex couples, including "Why aren't civil unions enough?" Go to: www.tinyurl.com/2tkwe

If you received this from a friend, contact EPFinfo@aol.com to have your name added to our list.

EQUAL PARTNERS in FAITH is a multi-racial national network of religious leaders and people of faith committed to equality and diversity. Our diverse faith traditions and shared religious values lead us to affirm and defend the equality of all people, regardless of religion, race, ability, gender, sexual orientation or gender identity. As people of faith, we actively oppose the manipulation of religion to promote inequality and exclusion.

Join us and help us promote a more inclusive vision of religion and society.

Equal Partners in Faith
1040 Harbor Drive
Annapolis, MD 21403

Phone: 877-501-4194
Fax: 1-443-782-0273
Email: EPFinfo@aol.com
Web: www.us.net/epf