By Jason Cato The Herald
(Published November 5‚ 2004)
When the next wave of referendums seeking to ban gay marriage sweeps across the nation, expect South Carolina to be among the states trying to do so.
In Tuesday's national elections, voters in 11 states amended their constitutions to ban gay marriage.
State Rep. Gary Simrill, R-Rock Hill, has already requested that House staffers begin researching those amendments to help with drafting one for South Carolina. He plans on pushing to have the issue appear on the ballot for the 2006 gubernatorial election.
"I see absolutely nothing but positive from having that question on the ballot," Simrill said. "I would think in South Carolina, the numbers would be a good majority if not a super-majority."
Gay rights advocates in South Carolina are disappointed by the possibility but said they are not surprised.
State laws already exist that bar gay marriages or recognizing unions performed elsewhere. Laws also define marriage as being solely between a man and a woman. More laws were passed last year that deny benefits to same-sex partners and block gay couples from jointly adopting children.
Though asking voters to amend the state constitution could be seen as redundant, Simrill said in this case redundancy is a good thing.
"That way, we will not only say this is what we believe as legislators, but this is what we believe as a citizenry," said Simrill, who wrote the original law in 1996 banning recognition of same-sex marriages and co-authored last year's new laws.
Ed Madden of the S.C. Lesbian and Gay Pride Movement in Columbia said he knew this was coming, he just didn't know how quickly.
While the amendments passed in all 11 states that addressed the issue in this election, Madden said the news isn't all bad.
National exit polls showed voters were split nearly evenly between supporting gay marriage, supporting civil unions but not marriage and completely opposing legal recognition for gay couples.
Lumping the groups that support gay marriage and civil unions together shows a majority of those polled back some sort of legal same-sex partnerships, Madden said.
"That shows that they may not agree on what to call it, but they clearly believe gay couples should have some sort of recognition," he said.
A constitutional referendum must be held during a general election, such as for president or governor. Sen. Wes Hayes, R-Rock Hill, said a gay marriage referendum was nearly on Tuesday's ballot in South Carolina, but it came up too late in the legislative session to get passed. Hayes said the amendment is likely to pass through the House and Senate when it comes up the next time.
"It's not necessarily going to be easy, but I think the votes will be there," said Hayes, who supports such a change. "When it comes to a vote, I think it will pass."
If the referendum gets on the ballot, even gay-rights advocates have little doubt it would pass. Still, they say their mission is to educate the public as to what such a measure would mean.
"We have a serious obligation to educate people about the truth," said Warren Redman-Gress of the Charleston-based Alliance for Full Acceptance. "And the truth is we're citizens, too, and we're guaranteed equal protection under the law by our constitution."
Madden said the effort to put a South Carolina face on gay rights issues under way. His organization has sponsored five town hall meetings on gay rights issues around the state and holds an annual marriage equality week in February and S.C. Pride week in May.
"I wouldn't say we're in good shape, but we've begun the work of educating people," Madden said.
President Bush recently came out in favor of allowing states to approve civil unions for gay couples. Madden hopes that will carry weight with "fair-minded" politicians.
But measures in eight of the states that amended their constitutions this week banned gay marriage and civil unions. Simrill said South Carolina's amendment would do the same.
While 11 states rejected gay marriage this week, voters in Cincinnati repealed a city charter banning gay-rights laws. Massachusetts began allowing same-sex marriages on May 17, and Vermont has allowed gay couples access to the full set of rights and responsibilities of marriage through civil unions since 2000.
Canada, Holland and Belgium allow same-sex marriages, and Spain is expected to join that group soon.
A federal bill to amend the U.S. Constitution to define marriage as being between a man and a woman failed to get through Congress.
The states approving an amendment Tuesday were Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Utah.
Jason Cato • 329-4071