The Orbis

On Thursday, Sept. 9, members of Nashville's GLBT community gathered at the Belcourt Theater for a town hall meeting to address matters that are proving to be very relevant in the upcoming presidential election. The meeting consisted of a panel discussion with four distinguished professionals and was moderated by John Seigenthaler, who is best known as both the founder of the Freedom Forum First Amendment Center and the publisher emeritus of The Tennessean.

The panel was constructed to tackle issues surrounding the proposed amendment to ban gay marriage on the federal and state levels. Currently, President Bush supports a constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriage, although not necessarily civil union.

Coincidentally, there is dissension in the Kerry-Edwards campaign, since Kerry publicly opposes gay marriage but supports civil unions. These civil unions would grant similar rights to those afforded to married couples such as work benefits and tax cuts.

Motivations behind the amendment were discussed at length during the meeting. The panelists were each able to add a unique perspective to aspects such as religion, law and civil rights.

For example, the Reverend V.H. "Sonnye" Dixon, Jr. of Hobson United Methodist Church provided a candid view of the religious excuses given by supporters of the amendment. Dixon believes there will never be a general consensus supporting gay marriage in his lifetime, saying that people "need an enemy; someone to send to hell." Dixon went on to say that he thinks the hatred will continue until people have a new group to rally against and he doubts the GLBT community will battle in any other arenas besides the courts.

Dixon also bluntly criticized conservative Christians who use God as a weapon against gays, when these conservative Christians are actually guilty of ignoring the doctrines that God makes no mistakes and that everyone should be loved.

During the discussion, the point was also raised that the political issue is not with religious marriage, but rather with court-recognized unions. This distinction between civil and religious marriages greatly reduces the strength of conservative Christians' arguments against same-sex marriage, as religion has absolutely no influence over court unions.

Panelist Hedy Weinberg, the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee, added that clergy should never be forced to perform same-sex marriages, as constituted by the separation of church and state.

Raising children is often an integral part of marriage and supporters of gay marriage bans attempt to use this element against GLBT Americans. Ken Choe, a legal advisor to the Clinton administration and an attorney with the ACLU, drew attention to the interface between marriage and parenting by bringing up the fact that many of the states considering banning gay marriage already have laws permitting same-sex couples to adopt children.

Psychological studies have found that children bear no ill-effects from being raised in a homosexual household (ACLU archives), so the argument that gay couples make bad parents is consistently disproved. Dixon also added that children raised in such homes reveal the loving nature of their parents and the strength of the environment in which they were raised.

At the close of the discussion, Seigenthaler asked the panel to articulate what they thought should be done in the future. Seth Kilbourn, the national field director for the Human Rights Campaign, asserted, "we're winning," and that the consensus will shift to their side as the GLBT community raises awareness through small conversations with friends and family. Choe was optimistic that if the GLBT community continues to educate the regular community and humanize their cause, the majority will alter their opinions and support the court victories he hopes to achieve. Dixon reiterated the importance of adoption issues in convincing people to support gay rights.

Weinberg took on a more political view, with the conviction that the GLBT community needs a strong, unified voice to convince legislators to vote on what they feel is morally right, rather than in the way they think will get them re-elected. Weinberg went on to say that as the general public is more aware of GLBT issues, the legislators representing them will "get a backbone" and speak for those supporting equality.

The meeting closed with the general consensus that the battle against the constitutional amendment would be a tough one, but that the civil liberties of gays would prevail in the long run.

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