NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)–A plurality of delegates to the Democratic National Convention support legalizing same-sex “marriage” and only one in five are opposed, putting them at odds with the nation as a whole, an Associated Press poll shows.
The poll found that 41 percent of the delegates support same-sex “marriage” and 21 percent are opposed. The remainder of the delegates, AP said, either refused to answer the question or said their answer did not fit into a “favor” or “oppose” category.
Nationwide, a majority of adults oppose same-sex “marriage.” A March Gallup poll showed that Americans oppose homosexual “marriage” by a margin of 61-33 percent. A May poll conducted by the University of Pennsylvania National Annenberg Election Survey showed Americans opposing homosexual “marriage” by a margin of 61-30 percent.
“For a group of Democratic Party activists which tends to be more liberal than the general population and even rank-and-file Democrats — it’s not totally surprising,” Paul Watanabe, a political scientist at the University of Massachusetts in Boston, told AP.
The survey consisted of more than 3,100 delegates.
ARK. AMENDMENT QUALIFIES — A state constitutional marriage amendment in Arkansas has qualified for the Nov. 2 ballot, the Arkansas secretary of state’s office said July 22.
Needing only 80,000 signatures, the Arkansas Marriage Amendment Committee submitted more than 200,000. A spokesman for the secretary of state said the office quit counting after reaching 95,000, according to the Arkansas News Bureau.
Including Arkansas, nine states will vote on marriage amendments this year. The others are Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Oklahoma and Utah. Michigan, Ohio and North Dakota likely will be added to that list.
State constitutional marriage amendments tie the hands of state courts, preventing a Massachusetts-type same-sex “marriage” ruling. But they can be overturned in federal court, which is why pro-family groups are also pushing for a marriage amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
SPECTER A NO VOTE? — Although Sen. Arlen Specter, R.-Pa., sided with supporters of the Federal Marriage Amendment on a procedural vote, he says he would have voted against it if it had reached an actual vote.
The amendment needed 60 votes to limit debate and proceed to a vote on the amendment itself. But it got only 48 and was blocked. Specter, who was one of the 48, told reporters that he would have voted against it.
“I would not support a constitutional amendment at this time,” Specter said, according to AP. “I think the issue is being handled by the states. Right now, the sanctity of marriage is being preserved.
“It’s not timely to have the U.S. Constitution amended,” he said.
POPULAR IN MO., OKLA. — Missourians and Oklahomans appear ready to pass state constitutional marriage amendments, according to two new polls.
The Kansas City Star/KMBC-TV poll showed that 62 percent of Missourians plan to vote for the amendment while 29 percent say they’ll vote against it. Missourians will vote on the amendment Aug. 3, making the Show Me state the first in the nation to have its say on the issue.
Fifty-two percent of voters said they strongly oppose same-sex “marriage,” while only 5 percent said they strongly support it. The poll consisted of 600 Missouri residents.
Meanwhile, a Tulsa World/KOTV-TV poll of 756 voters showed that Oklahomans support their amendment by a margin of 82-15 percent. The Oklahoma amendment will appear on the Nov. 2 ballot.
LARGE MISS. RALLY — More than 6,000 people attended a Rally for Traditional Marriage July 18 in Tupelo, Miss., to support a constitutional marriage amendment and stand up for traditional marriage, according to Agape Press. It was sponsored by more than 70 Mississippi churches.
“We’re going to fight until we win,” Bill Owens, president of the Coalition of African American Pastors, said, according to Agape Press. “We’re going to have crusades and rallies like this until we win. We’re going to let our political leaders know [that] if you don’t stand for God, we won’t stand for you.”
IS SPAIN NEXT? — A majority of Spaniards support the legalization of same-sex “marriage,” according to a poll of 2,479 people by the Centre for Sociological Investigations. The poll found two-thirds supportive and 11 percent opposed.
Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero favors legalizing same-sex “marriage,” although he faces stiff opposition from the country’s Catholic bishops.
The bishops released a statement July 20 reading: “Legal recognition of homosexual unions, and especially placing it on the same level with marriage, would constitute an error and an injustice with very negative consequences for the common good and the future of society.”
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