Despite prohibition by General Assembly, lobbyist still opposes marriage amendment
By John H. Adams, The Layman Online, July 15, 2004
Elenora Giddings Ivory, the Washington lobbyist for the Presbyterian Church (USA), continued lobbying against the Federal Marriage Amendment after the 216th General Assembly told her to cease.
The General Assembly, which adjourned on July 3, voted 299-192 to prohibit her from lobbying for or against the amendment. But on July 12, Giddings Ivory’s signature was still on a letter opposing the amendment. The letter was circulated again to members of Congress.
Giddings Ivory had signed the letter on June 2, along with representatives of 18 other organizations whose leaders described themselves as “a broad coalition.” Apparently, she took no steps between July 3 and July 12 to have her signature removed from the document and comply with the General Assembly’s orders.
The General Assembly’s order was clear. It said, “Nothing the 216th General Assembly (2004) has said or acted upon is to be construed to state or imply a position for or against the Federal Marriage Amendment. General Assembly entities shall not lobby for or against the Federal Marriage Amendment.”
The result of the General Assembly’s ban on lobbying would be that, “We would be removed from that letter,” Giddings Ivory told the commissioners.
Before the General Assembly issued her a gag rule, she had erroneously claimed, in previous lobbying efforts, that the Presbyterian Church (USA) supported same-sex marriages, which are contrary the denomination’s constitution. The coalition letter she signed said they opposed “any amendment to the Constitution that would ban marriage for same-sex couples.”
The July 12 release of the June 2 letter was made by the Rev. Justice Stier, who works with Justice and Witness Ministries in the United Church of Christ. On July 14, the U.S. Senate voted on a technical procedure that ended debate on the Federal Marriage Amendment until after the election.
Giddings Ivory told the General Assembly she signed the letter because, “as it was understood by those of us looking at it, that it [the proposed marriage amendment] would deny the civil rights of gays and lesbians.”
She mentioned only two of the 18 other organizations that signed the letter – “Baptists” and “Episcopalians.” Although many commissioners did not know what she meant by “Baptists,” she was not speaking about Southern Baptists, the 20 million-member denomination that upholds traditional marriage between a man a woman.
Also, she did not mention that several of the 19 are non-Christian bodies. The signatories included representatives of Protestant, Jewish, Sikh and Universalist groups.