“Predominantly White” Activists Lament Failure to "Feature People of Color" as AFM’s Diverse Coalition launches ProtectDOMA.org campaign
Last week, the Alliance for Marriage launched one of the most important campaigns in our organization’s history to protect the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in the upcoming 111th Congress.
By launching ProtectDOMA.org -- and immediately commencing our campaign efforts on Capitol Hill -- the Alliance for Marriage Foundation has drawn a line in the sand against radical activists who are determined to export Massachusetts-style “gay marriage” to the entire nation.
AFM’s ProtectDOMA campaign was cited this past week in the gay press: “The Alliance for Marriage just announced that preserving DOMA - especially by lobbying newly elected members of Congress from people of color communities - is one of their top priorities right now” – Gay City News, (11/26/08).
But what was most eye-opening about this news story -- which reported on a panel discussion including the Human Rights Commission about same- sex marriage in New York State and the repeal of DOMA nationally -- was a rare window into the activist community and just how absurd their deceptive analogies to America’s civil rights movement have become.
“At a time when the community has been rubbed raw by a debate over the percentage of people of color who voted for Prop 8 and the failure of the No on 8 campaign to feature people of color as spokespeople or to do sufficient outreach to those populations, the New York panel consisted of five white men and one white woman.... The audience was predominately white and male as well….”
For years, AFM has reached out to communities of color - including leaders of the African-American community - to make their voices heard in the historic debate over the future of marriage. Our strategic leadership in building an authentically diverse coalition to protect marriage has been widely recognized in the national media.
“As the community that endured both slavery and segregation, African- Americans will always reject the lie that radical activists have a "civil right" to redefine marriage,” said Niger Innis, an AFM Advisory Board Member and National Spokesperson for the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), one of the "Big Four" historic civil rights groups. “That's because my community - perhaps more than any other - understands in very real terms the consequences of family breakdown. When marriage declines, children and society both suffer.”
Too often, Americans of goodwill are intimidated by the threat of being labeled as bigots for believing what the vast majority of people - of every creed and color - regard as common sense. But the African- American leaders in the AFM coalition have always proclaimed the widespread view in their community that there is no “civil right" to redefine marriage for all of society.
Thank you for helping us to make their voices heard across the nation. Thank you also for your friendship and partnership in our efforts to ensure that more children in America are raised in a home with a mother and a father.
www.afmusa.org