"...I do not think that Dr King would favor religiously sanctioned gay marriages in his church.
...I feel that Dr King would have been appalled at any attempt to write into the constitution of this state under the guise of protecting heterosexual marriage an amendment which seeks to restrict the rights of a certain group of people based upon their sexual identity.
...since its founding 102 years ago, the mission of the NAACP has been to “ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons.”
I think that Dr King would have been proud of the fact that the North Carolina NAACP has taken a stand against this ill-thought-out amendment.
...in 1935, the Nuremberg laws prohibited marriage between Jews and Germans or people of kindred blood.
Based upon the history of the murder of six million Jews, laws prohibiting marriages might represent a slippery slope towards greater discrimination.
...Laws prohibiting marriages between white people and Negroes were enacted as early as 1872.
Such laws were overturned by the Supreme Court in 1967.
In South Africa, similar laws were enacted in 1949 and repealed in 1985.
...This amendment will not strengthen the institution of heterosexual marriages in our state or for that matter in our country.
Let us separate the religious issue from the issue of discrimination and civil rights.
When we do that, we will quickly realize that the issue of civil rights for Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual, Transsexual’s or LGBT’s is not a liberal or conservative issue.
...The dream that became America began with the revolutionary concept expressed in the Declaration of Independence in words that are among the most noble and elegant ever written: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
...Martin Luther King’s legacy commands us to fight against this blatant infringement on civil rights with all our might and with all our soul.
...I cannot imagine any situation in which the American people would find it acceptable to deny marriage between two Catholics, Jews, Muslims, Latinos, Asians, African Americans, simply because of that characteristic.
Therefore, enshrining in our State’s constitution an automatic denial of marriage between two LGBT individuals is equally offensive.
...I can only conclude that as Martin walked across the Edmund Pettus Bridge leading thousands of marchers from Selma to Montgomery on March 21, 1965 for equality and voting rights, Martin would once again raise his sonorous and wise voice for equality and equal rights for all of God’s children.
When I consider the history of my people and how we have been subjected to the denial of civil rights and have been the object of discrimination, I can only conclude that as a Jew, bias, bigotry, and racism must be fought whenever and wherever they are present.
The words of Holocaust survivor and Nobel laureate Eli Wiesel motivate us tonight.
Wiesel teaches us that “The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference.
The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference.
The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference.
And the opposite of life is not death, it's indifference.”..."
Fred
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