Amendment 2 may or may not affect hundreds of thousands of heterosexuals as well as gays in Florida, depending on which side of the issue you stand. The amendment to the state constitution, one of the hot-items on the ballot this Nov. 4, will add language prohibiting marriage between anyone but a man and a woman.
“Inasmuch as marriage is the legal union of only one man and one woman as husband and wife, no other legal union that is treated as marriage or the substantial equivalent thereof shall be valid or recognized,” the amendment reads. Aubrey Jewett, University of Central Florida political science associate professor, said the clause that reads “substantial equivalent thereof” could encompass any domestic partnership between a man and a woman and have serious implications on benefits they now enjoy like health care, pensions even legal protection.
For instance, after a similar amendment passed in Ohio, a man charged with domestic violence against his live-in girlfriend used the amendment’s strict definition of marriage to argue this was not a domestic case and instead fought for a lesser assault charge. However, Amendment 2 was reviewed by the Florida Supreme Court before it went on the ballot to ensure that the language covered only one subject. It was approved.
“Based on that, it seems to me that it is probably not interpreted broadly, but that is my opinion,” Jewett said. John Stemberger, local attorney and president of the Florida Family Policy Council, helped create the amendment and is state chairman of Yes2 Marriage.org. According to him, the amendment is intended to make the four Florida statutes that already ban samesex marriage bulletproof.
But Amendment 2 opponents like Jennifer Foster, a board member of the political action committee Florida Red and Blue, said the repercussions that straight couples are feeling in other states where similar amendments have passed are living proof of what could happen here in the Sunshine State if the Marriage Protection Amendment passes. “It is straight people who do not know what this is, who will be affected the most,” Foster said.
“Unfortunately, the media has been calling this the same-sex marriage ban or the gay marriage amendment, and it is not.” The amendments passed in other states had slightly different language, which Stemberger said could make all the difference. “There is no way you can say a domestic partnership is the ‘substantial equivalent’ of marriage because it encompasses only a small bundle (one dozen) of rights, whereas marriage encompasses more than 1,000 rights on the federal level and over 100 rights on the state level,” he said.
“The highest legal authority, the Supreme Court, has ruled that this amendment deals with a single subject. We would not be talking about this if it was dealing with anything other than same-sex marriage.” Earlier this month Orlando extended domestic benefits to same-sex couples in an effort to be “fair and equal” and to attract large corporations and white-collar workers to the city. “This could affect Florida’s economy because when Fortune 500 companies decide where they want to go they pick the best and brightest,” Foster said.
“They are not going to pick a state where discrimination is written into the constitution.” But Stemberger said not defining who can marry could open the door to allowing polygamists, incestuous unions and group marriages. “Once you unlock the door to what marriage is, there is no end to what can happen. If we allow a legal precedent for same-sex marriage, on what legal basis are we going to deny marriage to polygamists in Texas?” he said. “When marriage can mean anything, marriage means nothing.
Then the unique benefit and strength marriage brings to society is diluted, devalued and it creates societal problems.” Jewett said Amendment 2 stands a healthy chance at passing in next week’s election, especially since similar amendments have passed in nearly every other state where they appeared on the ballot — about 27 states. However, Jewett said it could be tricky. “There is reasonable chance that it will pass.
On the other hand, it does need 60 percent of the vote. I am pretty confident it could get 50 percent — some polls showed support was already at 50 percent — but I do not know it will go to 60.” Amendment 2 gets personal Although Adam Hunter of East Orlando would love to have the option to marry his partner and hopes to keep any legal benefits he is entitled to as part of a domestic partnership, this ballot item means much more to him.
“Personally, it makes me feel bad for being gay. I struggle so hard, but there is nothing you can do to change people’s perception of you no matter how hard you try,” he said. Raised in a strict religious household, Hunter was told that gays are horrible, bad people. He immersed himself in church, friends, family — anything that seemed anti-gay — to not feel so bad. He even planned to attend Bob Jones University, a Christian college, to become a minister.
One day a youth pastor confided in him that the church was pressuring the pastor to get married, but he was not ready yet and worried about meeting the right woman. Hunter realized that as a minister, one day he too would be pressured to marry; he said he loathed the idea of marrying a woman he did not love because it was unfair to her.
Hunter finally told his friends and family about his sexual orientation at age 24. It took his parents — a self-proclaimed “redneck” father and a Baptist mother — several years to fully accept this, but now he is very happy and settled in life. “I see it more as ignorance and not reaching out and seeing what it is like to be someone who is gay,” Hunter said about Amendment 2 proponents.
“I feel sorry for them, the ignorance they have. I am not being an elitist here, but they should research these things on their own.”
