GOP Governor Candidate Scares Blacks with Threat of Same-Sex Marriage

 

GOP gubernatorial candidate John Oxendine sent an email blast to supporters last week, targeting black Georgia voters, stating that President Obama and the institution of marriage were being threatened.

 

“The family is under attack, and in Washington D.C. this weekend, so is the President,” Oxendine writes, referring to last weekend’s National Equality March (NEM) and President Obama’s speech to the Human Rights Campaign (HRC).

 

While both the march and Obama’s speech focused on the myriad of issues faced by the LGBT community, such as repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) and passing legislation that makes discrimination based on gender-identity and sexuality in the workplace illegal, the Gwinnett county native honed in on same-sex marriage to capitalize on the socially conservative nature of black voters.

 

“One of the most important issues to conservative voters is the institution of marriage,” he writes.  “But not just white voters.  Many minority voters are very traditional in this area…”

Oxendine also mentions the rift that has developed between the black community and the LGBT community.

 

“[African Americans] tell me they resent the gay lobby ‘hijacking’ the civil rights movement for something besides skin color or gender.”

The LGBT magazine, The Advocate, ran their December cover last year declaring “Gay Is The New Black: The Last Great Civil Rights Struggle,” to ire of many blacks. 

 

Tensions rose when California Proposition 8, the ballot initiative that ended same-sex marriage in the state, passed and some LGBT groups began blaming blacks, who overwhelming supported the initiative, despite them only constituting less than 5% of the state population.

 

Oxendine has a long history of speaking out against same-sex marriage.

 

In 1995, then Insurance Commission Oxendine, ran television ads telling four national insurance providers that extending benefits to same-sex couples was “contrary to public policy” in Georgia.

 

Oxendine also told local news outlets that he was “ethically and morally opposed” to the idea of extending insurance coverage to same-sex couples.

 

Oxendine’s Email:

 

Marriage - Under Attack
Friday, 09 October 2009 00:00
By John Oxendine

 

The family is under attack, and in Washington DC this weekend, so is the President.  The GLBT (Gay, Lesbian, Bi-sexual, Transgender) community is hosting an Equality March on Washington to let the President know that between solving the healthcare crisis in America, writing his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, and taking over car companies, he needs to come through on some of the promises he made to the gay lobby during the election.

 

In last year’s election, California, Florida and Arizona flexed their bi-partisan muscles and said “no thank you” to radically altering the oldest institution in human history—marriage.  These states join
Georgia and 25 other states whose constitutions ban gay marriage. The stunning electoral defeat last year looks to me like a mandate for traditional marriage to anyone with eyes—but the media and gay rights activists are not spinning it that way.   The gay marriage issue has lost in every single state, and in a year of record Democratic turnout, it lost again—even in California.

 

Why is that?  Because one of the most important issues to conservative voters is the institution of marriage.  But not just white voters. Many minority voters are very traditional in this area and they tell me they resent the gay lobby “hijacking” the civil rights movement for something besides skin color or gender.  Those on the other side of this argument, made up of mostly Democrats, the gay community and special interests, have utilized any and every thing to secure civil marriage for themselves — including municipal governments, state legislatures, executive orders, courts, and did I mention, courts.  The GLBT lobby and activist groups have employed every tactic to distort ballot initiatives and spin the issue as something other than what it is. Now, they want to apply pressure to President Obama and have him deliver for them.

 

How will they do that? The gay rights movement that defines itself mostly on private behaviors will be marching in the streets in Washington, DC this weekend and making demands on public policy. They want to redefine marriage.  They insist on teaching children in the public schools that same-sex marriage is morally equivalent to traditional marriage. I am asking Georgians of all races to come together on the issue  of traditional marriage and do all we can to protect this sacred institution.

 

The bottom line of all of this is that the devaluing of marriage has enormous consequences.  One only needs to look at the research and statistics from the Netherlands to see how the devaluation of marriage has caused more and more people not to marry.  The institution of marriage, one of the oldest on the planet, is the bedrock of civilization.  And for that reason, all of us need to come together to protect marriage.

 

All that said, those who are engaged in homosexual behavior are people—who need love and forgiveness, and who need to understand the love of God.  It is hard to engage in cultural battle and still have people feel that you love and accept them.  Ugly rhetoric, inappropriate jokes, and ridicule should be off limits. And most importantly, we need to do a better job in our own marriages so we don’t lose the moral authority to talk about this issue.  We obviously have a lot of work to do.

 

Comments Powered by Disqus