The Ohio House of Representatives recently passed the Defense of Marriage Act on a 73-23 vote, setting the ground work for Ohio to join a number of states in preventing gays and lesbians from pursuing legal rights that state-sanctioned marriage affords. The compassionate conservatives at Citizens for Community Values, of course, applauded the vote.
CCV President Phil Burress posted an open letter on his Web site (ccv.org) praising Ohio legislators for "seeing the looming threat from the recent Massachusetts court decision attempting to force same-sex marriage on our nation." He said he expects the Ohio Senate to take up the legislation in January.
"Senate President Doug White has previously said he supports the legislation and would immediately begin hearings after its passage by the House," Burress wrote. "Gov. Bob Taft has stated he will sign the bill."
Burress then asked his CCV followers to partake in their favorite activity — writing letters. He'd like to persuade Ohio Senators that the good folk of the Buckeye State are repulsed by the concept of same-sex marriage and that the politicians better vote the right way if they know what's good for them.
"Please take time to call, write, e-mail and/or visit your State Senator," Burress wrote. "Writing a personal letter is the best method of communication."
He linked letter-writers to the Vote Smart Web site (vote-smart.org), where they can find the name and address of their Senate representative. So can you.
On a related note, the American Family Association is polling Americans on the subject of same-sex marriage, promising to send the results on to Congress as a gauge of public sentiment. AFA's Web site (afa.net) says the organization "believes that the entertainment industry, through its various products, has played a major role in the decline of those values on which our country was founded and which keep a society and its families strong and healthy," blaming the industry for "dramatic" increases in teen pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases such as AIDS and abortion as a means of birth control.
You can vote one of three ways at afa.net/petitions/ marriagepoll.asp: for same-sex marriage, for same-sex civil unions but not marriage and against all same-sex arrangements. Remember: In the absence of opposing views, groups like CCV and AFA represent the community's "values."
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