Viewpoint Catholics should reject anti-gay ballot
measure
By CHUCK COLBERT
When Californians go the polls on
March 7, theyll get to decide Yes or No on
Proposition 22, a ballot initiative that reads: Only marriage between a
man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.
A December Field Poll of 475 likely Californian voters showed
support for Proposition 22 holding steady at 51 percent, with 40 percent
opposed and 9 percent undecided. That poll showed support slipping -- down from
57 percent in an earlier August poll.
Smarting from a gay civil rights victory in Vermont, same-sex
marriage antagonists would like nothing better than to derail recent gains made
by the gay community. Those gains include state and local human rights
ordinances, lesbian and gay parenting and adoption rights, private and public
sector domestic partnership recognition and health care benefits, safe-school
initiatives, hate crimes legislation and increased HIV funding.
Recently, California has been a trailblazer. Democratic Gov. Gray
Davis, for instance, recently signed into law three significant pieces of gay
civil rights legislation. One law makes public schools safer for gay students.
Another establishes a statewide domestic partnership registration and provides
same-sex couples with hospital visitation rights and health insurance benefits.
A third law enhances protection against discrimination based on sexual
orientation in housing and employment.
But these kinds of civil rights protections and limited health
benefits are too much for crusaders in the culture war against gays.
Theyd like to trigger a backlash.
Thats why Republican state Sen. William J. Pete
Knight of Palmdale, Calif., sponsors Proposition 22, or the Knight
Initiative, along with a formidable group of advocates. Their campaign
treasury, the Protection of Marriage Committee, has built up a substantial war
chest totaling more than $3 million.
The list of organizations and individuals supporting
Proposition 22 merits naming: Pat Robertsons Christian Coalition; James
Dobsons Focus on the Family; Lou Sheldons Traditional Values
Coalition; The Family Research Council and its California arm, the Capitol
Resource Institute; and Christian Reconstructionist Howard Ahmanson, Jr., a
founder of the right-wing Chalcedon Institute -- which advocates the death
penalty for homosexuality -- and the Rutherford Institute. One is hard-pressed
to find a more eminent rogues gallery of mean-spirited anti-gay
activists.
While these allies were expected to support Proposition 22, the
Catholic church is capturing headlines and causing a stir with its substantial
and unprecedented financial contributions.
According to local media, eight of Californias 12 Roman
Catholic dioceses have contributed already more than $310,000 to the political
initiative. The most populous diocese, Los Angeles, contributed $145,000. When
the San Francisco archdiocese gave $31,724, that move was too much for some.
Fr. Zachary Shore, pastor of the predominantly gay Most Holy Redeemer Catholic
Church, wrote a letter to Archbishop William J. Levada.
I wrote to the archbishop saying I was disappointed with the
involvement of the California bishops in regard to this political
amendment, Shore told the San Francisco Examiner. I told him
I did not think it was right for the church money to be used.
Shore is not alone. Mike Marshall, campaign manager for the No on
Knight Committee, called the churchs contributions stunning, hurtful and
disappointing. Quoted in the Examiner, Marshall, who was raised Catholic
and attended Catholic schools, said, The vast majority of Catholics I
know support the church because of its commitment to social justice, not to be
a part of the bishops jihad against gays and lesbians.
Catholic social justice used to mean funding social services and
pastoral care for the poor, widows, orphans, social outcasts and the
marginalized. Now in California, with these political contributions, the church
not only colludes with, but also finances social injustice and fear-based
intolerance, which has the effect of perpetuating the culture war against gay
Americans.
Yet, Catholic voters, who make up 25 percent of Californias
population (32 million), are already sending their church some messages.
Faithful Catholics -- from the disappointed to the outraged -- are writing
letters and withholding money from the collection plate. Still others are
leaving the church.
But fair-minded and charitable California Catholics can do more;
in fact, they have a moral duty to do so. On March 7, by voting no on the
Knight Initiative, lay Catholics have the power to send their
bishops a clear message: They will no longer tolerate or finance this less than
charitable -- downright unjust -- attack on gay and lesbian Californians, their
families and friends.
Chuck Colbert, a graduate student at the Weston Jesuit School
of Theology, located in Cambridge, Mass., lived in California from 1982 to
85. He serves on the board of the Lesbian and Gay Journalists
Association.
National Catholic Reporter, March 3,
2000
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