Florida: Gay marriage amendment limits rights

By Amy Silverstein

My sister and I were born in the same country, the United States. We are 22 months apart, she is the elder. We went to the same schools learning about our rights and how we are so lucky to live in this free country that provides us with equal opportunities. Somehow along the way, I ended up having more rights than her. I grew up, fell in love and got married. She grew up, fell in love, and is prohibited under law from getting married. Why? Because she is gay.

Marriage is a close and intimate union as defined by Webster's dictionary. Legally, that union has to be a man and a woman, but legally we also used to buy and sell people as property. There is an amendment being proposed to our state constitution this year that wants to "protect" marriage from being defined as other than a union by a man and a woman. It even goes further to say that "no other legal union that is treated as marriage or the substantial equivalent thereof shall be valid or recognized." This sounds eerily familiar. Here is a Jim Crow law we used to have:

Florida: All marriages between a white person and a negro, or between a white person and a person of negro descent to the fourth generation inclusive, are hereby forever prohibited.

In an article I read on Friday, April 18, the Broward Christian Coalition Chairwoman Barbara Collier is quoted as saying that this amendment needs to be in our constitution in case an "activist judge" decides to allow gay marriage in Florida. Oh, the horror! What could become of our society if our legal system of checks and balances actually works! There is currently a law on the books banning gay marriage, but that is just not enough, we have to add it to our constitution. The fact that Ms. Collier and her group are afraid that the law could be struck down as unconstitutional shows that they know that they are playing with people's individual liberties, and they are afraid that the truth will prevail. If Ms. Collier actually read our state constitution, she would know that our state constitution is unique. We actually have a section guaranteeing a person's right to privacy. This to me shows that our state forefathers respected individuality and respected the rights of others.

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