Adele Ferguson: Obama and the state's controversy

I’M MORE than a little suspicious that Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, among others, knew in advance that the President was on the verge of leaping aboard the gay marriage bandwagon.

Biden kicked it off on Meet the Press with “Men marrying men, women marrying women and homosexual men and women marrying one another are entitled to the same exact rights, all the civil rights, all the civil liberties.”

The next morning Duncan voiced his support for gay marriage over MSNBC, followed by Caroline Kennedy, co-chair of Obama’s re-election campaign, urging that the president should put support for gay marriage in the Democratic platform at the national convention in September.

The President’s immediate response was that he agreed with Biden, and all his work was not done yet. His campaign managers were reported to be resisting making it a platform issue, not only because not all Democrats favor it, but because most Republicans don’t like it and it will bring more of them to the polls this fall in states where it is on the ballot.

WASHINGTON legalized same sex marriage in the last legislative session, 55-43 in the House and 28-21 in the Senate, but signatures are being gathered by two different groups attempting to put it to a referendum in November. They have until July 6 to qualify.

On Tuesday after Biden’s remarks, North Carolina passed a constitutional ban on same sex marriage by 61 percent, defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman. Evangelist Billy Graham wrote a letter that appeared in every major newspaper in the state supporting the ban.

“The Bible is clear,” he wrote. “God’s definition of marriage is between a man and a woman.”

North Carolina became the 30th state to put the ban in its constitution rather than relying on statute.

THE PRESIDENT was showered with pleadings from leaders of gay and lesbian groups and civil rights organizations to endorse gay marriage, considering he had declared in the past that while he opposed it, his position was “evolving.”

He had restored the right of gays and lesbians to serve in the military, but now openly. And he allowed the Department of Justice to refuse to enforce the Defense of Marriage Act passed by Congress which defines marriage as between one man and one woman.

On the other hand, his Republican opponent, Mitt Romney, has maintained no way, no how, no time will he endorse gay marriages and pledged to enforce DOMA.

Wednesday, May 9, became a “historic day,” according to CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, when the president bowed to pressure for his endorsement and by declaring that “Couples should be allowed to marry.” He dragged his daughters, Malia and Sasha, into the campaign again despite previous insistence that they mustn’t be included, by saying they had friends with same sex parents and didn’t understand how they could be treated differently from other people.

“He looked happy,” pronounced a beaming Paul Begala, “as if it was something he’s been wanting to do for a long time.”

I remain opposed to same sex marriage because what do children think is normal when they see two men or two women kissing and bedding together? We were created physically the way we are to insure the continuation of the human race via one man and one woman.

Two men or two women can’t do it.

(Adele Ferguson can be reached at P.O. Box 69, Hansville. Wa., 98340.)