For Immediate Release
January 24, 2006
Harrisburg (PA) - Today the Values All Families Coalition, State Representative Steve Stetler from York, and State Representative James Roebuck from Philadelphia spoke against the proposed constitutional amendment on marriage. They explained why this proposed amendment should be called the Pennsylvania Anti-Family Amendment since it will hurt many families, children and the people of Pennsylvania. They were joined by families who would be adversely affected by the proposed amendment as well as other legislators who oppose the amendment.
"Nobody should be fooled by supporters of the proposed amendment who say they just want to protect marriage," said Stacey Sobel, executive director of the Center for Lesbian and Gay Civil Rights, one of the spokespersons for the Value All Families Coalition. "The reality is this is an anti-family amendment. It will negatively impact many families and could take away some of the rights that protect them today. This is what would be accomplished by those who want to write discrimination into our state constitution."
Carole Fryberger and her family from Lancaster County, Tony Rodriguez of Abington, Norval Copeland of Philadelphia and Roxanne Hitchcock of Oil City spoke about how the amendment would hurt their families and gay and lesbian Pennsylvanians.
The Rev. Dr. Russell H. Mueller of St. Michael Lutheran Church in Harrisburg discussed why people of faith should oppose the amendment.
Representative Stetler, speaking on behalf of his fellow legislators said, "It is disheartening to see this divisive attempt at restricting the legal rights of Pennsylvanians. A person's sexual orientation, identity or expression should not determine what rights they are entitled to under our state constitution. Our constitution is intended to protect families, children and communities. It is not intended to discriminate against anyone for any reason."
Attention to the proposed constitutional amendment has been heightened by the recent decision invalidating the Maryland ban on same-sex marriage. Responding to those who claim that decision shows why Pennsylvania needs a constitutional amendment, Larry Frankel, legislative director for the ACLU of Pennsylvania said, "A court decision from another state is no reason to create second-class citizens in Pennsylvania. Those who want to put discrimination into the Constitution would have been promoting this divisive idea no matter what the court in Maryland decided. Our elected officials should act to protect and nurture all of Pennsylvania's families and not be persuaded by those special interests who think they own the right to say who is a family."
Statement of Larry Frankel, ACLU Legislative Director (19k PDF)
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