Dillard University’s One People and the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) hosted a town hall meeting honored to saying no to the federal marriage amendment recently.
The meeting was held at St. Matthews United Church of Christ on Carrollton Ave. and included an in-depth panel discussion about the issues of the amendment and the distribution of say no cards.
The panelist included Rev. Gail Bowman, Chaplin of Dillard University; Kathy Banko of P-Flag New Orleans, Tim Fields and a local attorney. In attendance at the meeting was the former president of One People Zuri Starr Turner, a senior Sociology and Social Work major; current president Ronnell Perry, a sophomore International Business and Spanish major; vice president Megan Benton, a Mass Communications major and advisor Dr. Alvin Durocher, along with members of the HRC and members of the New Orleans community.
The meeting was open with an informational about the amendment from Brandon Braud, the regional field organizer of HRC. “The federal marriage amendment is coming back up to vote in the house and senate this summer,” said Braud.
The federal marriage amendment proposal states marriage should only be between a man and women and therefore any form of civil union between same sex couples would be void if this amendment passed. “I feel that we should not be putting discrimination back into the constitution.” said Turner. “We already went through that in the 60’s with women rights and civil rights.”
Banko gave her opinion on the amendment from the point of view of a proud mother of a gay son. She said she has supported her son every sense he came out and has went through the legal process of making him and his partner legally committed to one another under a civil union. Banko explained the expensive paper work that was used to turn over rights from her son to his partner which are giving to heterosexual couples when they sign marriage licenses. Banko said “All that money will have went down the drain if this amendment is passed.” “We are still making laws based on who people love.”
Fields explained the legal aspect of proposed amendment. “This amendment will make all civil union void.” said Fields.
Furthermore, Rev. Bowman spoke of the religious point of view of the amendment. “Religion is not affiliated with the government so I don’t understand why the both are being connected. Its not prohibited to my eye,” said Rev. Bowman.
The meeting closed with questions from the audience and the distribution and completion of Say No Cards. The Say No Cards are cards for those who are against the amendment to fill out and send to the House of Representatives in Washington D.C.
If there are any questions about the amendment and how to obtain a Say No Card, please visit the Human Rights Campaign website at www.hrc.org.
