Wednesday, March 3, 2004

An Editorial: The gay marriage debate: Some servants and some mis-representatives

State Senator Mike Crotts, who represents a portion of southeastern Fayette, introduced the same-sex marriage ban in the upper house and has served as the lightning rod for predictable bashings by activists and gay marriages’ biggest cheerleader in Georgia: The AJC.

Sen. Crotts deserves the gratitude of all Fayette Countians who still see marriage as the union only of a male and a female.

In favor of letting Georgians vote on this most fundamental of issues also were Fayette Sen. Mitch Seabaugh and state representatives Lynn Westmoreland and John Yates.

At least four elected “servants” misrepresented their constituents in Fayette County.

Three of the mis-representatives are in the 48th House district, which covers roughly the northern half of Fayette, from above Tyrone to just below Fayetteville.

In addition, thanks to King Roy Barnes and the Democrats’ demented redistricting plan, it also includes a piece of Clayton County and the southern part of Fulton County, from East Point all the way over to the Carroll and Douglas county lines.

Four politicians represent that misbegotten district, and three of them voted against traditional marriage. They are Post 1’s Bob Holmes (D-Atlanta), Post 3’s Joe Heckstall (D-East Point) and Post 4’s Virgil Fludd (D-Fairburn). Post 2’s Sharon Beasley-Teague (D-Fairburn) skipped the first vote last week.

And that brings us to our lone Fayette resident responsible for this slap in the face of the majority, a mis-representative who betrayed his constituents’ deeply held beliefs, indeed their very fundamental right to vote.

Rep. Fludd was one of the House members who voted against letting voters have any voice in the future of marriage. He lives in Fayette, but has a Fairburn address. He is the chairman of the Fayette County delegation.

Remember that those who oppose traditional marriage have one thing in common: They are all Democrats.

Here are Rep. Fludd’s contact numbers, for those who might want to encourage him to pay some attention to his constituents before next election:

E-mail is vfludd@legis.state.ga.us. Office phone is 404-656-7859. District office: 770-486-0942; fax, 770-486-0636.

State Senator Valencia Seay voted against the constitutional amendment to forbid legal recognition of gay marriages.

The College Park legislator is supposed to take into consideration the views of the people who put her in office. That includes everybody who lives in the northern half of Fayette, from just north of Tyrone diagonally southeastward to just below Fayetteville.

Sen. Seay’s legislative e-mail address is vseay@legis.state.ga.us. Her office phone is 404-656-5095. Her office fax is 404-463-7783. Her district office phone is 770-909-0268.

Contact Sen. Seay to let her know you are disappointed in her cavalier dismissal of three millennia of human experience.

The measure passed the Senate despite her opposition.

At election time, remember these names and what they have done to you and to your children and to your children’s children.

Sen. Seay and reps. Fludd, Holmes and Heckstall have fought against traditional marriage and have taken away your right to vote whether to maintain society’s basic unit as it has been understood for more than 20 centuries.

At election time, remember what the so-called Democratic Party is trying to take away from Georgians: The right to vote on your own constitution.

Remember your right to vote.