Washington Office continues to promote opposition to proposed marriage amendment
By Craig M. Kibler, The Layman Online, May 21, 2004
The Washington Office of the Presbyterian Church (USA), which caused a controversy in March when its director urged Congress to reject a proposed Federal Marriage Amendment, is continuing its efforts to oppose it.
These advocacy efforts continue despite a statement by Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick that, “The General Assembly has not taken any action to ‘publicly oppose’ the Marriage Amendment.”
The Washington Office is listed as a signer of a letter to members of Congress by the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights. That letter calls the proposed Federal Marriage Amendment “a radical proposal,” and urges them to oppose it.
The Washington Office also is included in a booklet opposing the marriage measure prepared by the United Church of Christ. The booklet, called “God Is Still Speaking, about Marriage,” includes such things as a “Same Gender Marriage Study Packet for Youth Groups and Campus Ministries;” an “Equal Marital Rights Packet;” links to Web sites operated by gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered groups; and other material.
The proposed amendment, which upholds the traditional concept of marriage, states:
- “Marriage in the United States shall consist only of the union of a man and a woman. Neither this Constitution nor the constitution of any state, nor federal or state law, shall be construed to require that marital status or the legal incidents thereof be conferred upon unmarried couples or groups.”
In the flurry of criticism after The Layman Online broke the original story March 5, Kirkpatrick prepared a list of constitutional citations and General Assembly decisions to assure Presbyterians that the PCUSA has not endorsed same-sex marriages, which the Rev. Elenora Giddings Ivory, the director of the Washington Office, implied in her speech. That information was posted on the Office of the General Assembly Web site.
A Presbyterian News Service story at the same time published Ivory’s quotation of the constitutional statement on marriage just as she said it – without any reference to what the denomination believes about civil marriage, which is what Ivory left out of her speech.
In introducing the stated clerk’s compilation of statements on marriage, the Presbyterian News Service made no effort to explain Ivory’s omission. And there was no public reprimand of Ivory, whose job is to advocate only for issues on which the denomination has expressed a view – especially the constitution. A corrected version of Giddings Ivory’s speech later was posted on the Web site of the Washington Office, but no effort was made to explain her omission and no comment was offered on the controversy it sparked.
Apparently, Kirkpatrick and Giddings Ivory interpret an action by the 212th General Assembly as justification for continuing to advocate for the rejection of the proposed amendment. At that 2002 assembly, a commissioner’s resolution that would have put the denomination on record as supporting the proposed amendment was defeated. There was no other action in regard to the marriage measure.
Kirkpatrick and Giddings Ivory, however, offer almost the same interpretation – taking the rejection of the resolution as an endorsement to oppose the marriage measure. Kirkpatrick said that, “The 214th General Assembly in 2002 voted to disapprove Commissioner’s Resolution 02-06, which would have called for support of the Federal Marriage Amendment,” while Giddings Ivory said, “In 2002, the 214th annual meeting of the General Assembly of the PC(USA) voted disapproval for the resolution calling for a Federal Marriage Amendment. At this Assembly, the commissioners voted to reaffirm decades of social witness policy that supports civil rights and non-discrimination for all persons, regardless of sexual orientation.”
On May 3, almost two months after the controversy, The Layman Online reported that the American Civil Liberties Union, which is leading legal efforts to defeat the proposal, includes the Washington Office on a list of organizations that oppose the amendment, which is backed by President George W. Bush. Those organizations include gay rights, feminist and political groups. The same list is posted on the Web site of People for the American Way, a liberal public policy advocacy organization, and Silverlake Neighbors for Peace and Justice, a pro-gay marriage group.