Opponents protest bill
Toolbox
BY Peter Hirschfeld VERMONT PRESS BUREAU - Published: March 17, 2009
MONTPELIER — Pastor Richard Merrill stood nearby the entrance to the Statehouse on Monday morning and greeted all comers with a free sticker.
The adhesive tag, about the size of an index card, featured interlocking wedding bands and a message: "Marriage — A Mother & Father for Every Child."
For the 250 or so Vermonters who turned out Monday to protest the Legislature's same-sex marriage bill, the motto encapsulates a key argument against the proposed legislation.
"This bill takes a promise away that's inherent in marriage," Steve Cable, spokesman for the Vermont Marriage Advisory Council, told a rapt crowd inside a ground-floor meeting room. "A promise that every child born into marriage will have a mother and a father."
Monday's event, staged by the Marriage Advisory Council and Take it to the People, marked the first organized protest since the controversial measure was introduced in late February. A peaceful, orderly crowd spilled from the meeting room and into the hallways outside where residents, united in opposition, delivered their anti-gay-marriage message to a Senate Judiciary Committee preparing for its first day of hearings on the matter.
If all goes according to Cable's plan, outlined to followers in a strategic briefing Monday, then representatives and senators will be inundated over the next week with letters, e-mails, phone calls and even personal visits decrying the gay marriage bill.
Gay marriage opponents also are launching a radio campaign aimed at marshaling opposition across northern New England.
The "Don't Mess with Marriage" ads, which will be aired in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont starting Monday, are sponsored by the National Organization for Marriage, a Princeton, N.J., group that has been active in fighting same-sex marriage initiatives in California and elsewhere.
"Do go ahead and use your religious and moral arguments," Cable said. "But the press would like nothing more than to de-legitimize us … by saying 'oh, this is just about their religion.'"
Cable encouraged residents to include more secular talking points outlined on handouts. Suggested arguments included the "tragedy" of missing a biological parent; the "neutering" of terms like bride, groom, mother and father; and the "destruction" of a millennia-old marriage tradition.
A prominently displayed poster set up near Cable featured a picture of a male couple in half-embrace strolling down a paved sidewalk. One of the men, wearing a sleeveless T-shirt with a barbed-wire tattoo circling his right biceps, pushes a baby carriage. A caption asks, "Is this really what Vermont wants?"
It certainly isn't what Merrill wants. The pastor at the Church at Rutland cited Old and New Testament scripture as the basis for his opposition.
"The state should not sanction or give approval to sin," Merrill said. "We don't want to impose our views on other people, but when you destroy marriage … all the basic institutions that hold us together as a culture are devastated and gutted."
Like most residents gathered Monday, Lewis Barton emphasized that his opposition isn't based on a hatred of gay people. Barton, a Woodbury resident, was joined Monday by his wife of 26 years. He said he worries that sanctioning same-sex marriages will tarnish his own union.
"Biblical marriage will cease to exist," Barton said. "… We want our legislators to realize that God is not dead."
Krista Tomaselli, of East Burke, said she's hoping legislators are more receptive to the faith community this year than they were when civil unions became law in 2000. Tomaselli, accompanied by her 2-year-old son Aza, who sported a "Marriage" sticker on the brim of his little hoodie, said the stakes are high.
"When we break down the principles of what I believe God set up for marriage, we break down our families and our values," she said.
Cable told residents Monday that they face an uphill battle. Democratic leadership, he said, is intent to shut out opposing viewpoints from committee testimony.
"The deck is stacked against us," he said. "We need to let legislators know … that we don't appreciate the unfairness of this process."
Residents were encouraged to make the trip to Montpelier again this Wednesday, when lawmakers will convene a public hearing on the same-sex marriage bill.
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