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Support GayOKC.com! Donate here!		Carson under attack for pro-Gay vote

The following is an email from Keith Smith
(Posted 12-20-01)

Please send a note of thanks to our fine Congressman Brad
Carson.... brad.carson@mail.house.gov

And Read the Manure the Right Wing is putting out on Brad............in
editorials across Oklahoma .........be ready to respond if your local paper
runs a negative editorial

Carson's pro-gay vote undermines marriage
by Brandon Dutcher
While Oklahomans were preoccupied with the Right-to-Work
vote on September 25, one Oklahoman " Congressman Brad Carson " cast another
vote which, though barely noticed, could prove to be more important.
According to Tim McFeeley, political director of the National Gay and
Lesbian Task Force, a vote taken that day in the U.S. House of
Representatives represents "the first time either body of Congress has voted
to recognize a gay relationship in any way, shape or form."
Here's some background. As Washington Post reporter Spencer Hsu explains, in
1992 the District of Columbia city council passed an ordinance which allows
"domestic partners to register with the city and Washington government
workers to buy health insurance for partners and claim family and medical
leave."
However, Congress has routinely rejected the use of either federal or
District funds to implement this ordinance. That changed on September 25. As
the Post reported September 26, "The House of Representatives yesterday
voted to permit the District to extend health benefits to gay couples for
the first time, using the city's $5.3 billion fiscal 2002 budget to wage a
fierce debate over recognition of homosexual relationships."
"The key vote," reports Ann Rostow of the Gay.com/PlanetOut.com network,
"was the defeat of an amendment by Rep. Dave Weldon, R-Fla., that would have
restored the normally routine funding ban to the current D.C. appropriations
bill. The ban had been lifted this year in subcommittee, and the House
refused to reinstate it by a margin of 226-194." Congressman Weldon, an M.D.
who says he is the only physician in his county treating AIDS patients
(often in the middle of the night), says his goal was simply "to protect the
integrity of marriage in the United States."
All the members of Oklahoma's congressional delegation voted to protect
marriage, except Mr. Carson. He voted against the Weldon amendment.
Far from being just another appropriations bill, this legislation could have
far-reaching implications. Winnie Stachelberg, political director of the
Human Rights Campaign, an organization "working for lesbian, gay, bisexual
and transgender equal rights," says the vote marks an evolution in
Congress's attitude toward expanding the legal status of homosexuals. She
says it upholds the value of homosexual "families" by "removing unnecessary
barriers and making it easier for families to acquire health coverage."
Michael Schwartz, vice president at the conservative Concerned Women for
America (and a former staffer for Mr. Carson's predecessor, Dr. Tom Coburn),
says the vote was indeed "a very big deal. This is a huge victory for the
gay rights movement."
Majority Whip Tom DeLay predicts the D.C. law will have "broad consequences
externally far beyond the District."
In a prepared statement, Representative Carson defended his vote by pointing
out that even some Republicans voted against the Weldon amendment. But an
examination of the roll-call vote reveals that none of them represent the
second congressional district of Oklahoma.
Mr. Carson, a member of the First Baptist Church of Claremore, also assures
me "there is no one who is a stronger supporter of the sanctity of marriage
than I am." But when dealing with politicians, it doesn't do any good to
read their lips; we have to read their votes. And in this very important
instance, Mr. Carson voted to support and facilitate counterfeit marriage.
He also averred that "not one single federal tax dollar will go towards
providing same sex couples with health benefits, otherwise I would not have
supported the bill. ... It is my belief that the federal government should
not be involved in local government health issues. It is the District of
Columbia's local tax money ... and D.C. has the right to decide what to do
with it. I do not support any measure that would dictate to states how they
should be spending their local dollars."
This is a reasonable argument, and I suppose it's the best one available if
you're going to cast this sort of vote while representing constituents in
the Bible Belt. A skeptic might find it transparent (sort of like a state
attorney general suddenly invoking "states' rights" when siding with
sodomites against Boy Scouts), but even if taken at face value the argument
is faulty. This is not an issue of local control. The Constitution makes
clear that "the Congress shall have power to exercise exclusive legislation
in all cases whatsoever" over the District of Columbia. Congress has the
responsibility to control the budget and set policy for the District.
What's more, the money in the District's budget is fungible, as Mr. Carson
surely understands. For example, as Mr. Schwartz points out, the District
offers a tax credit for employers that offer domestic partner benefits to
their employees. Whatever revenue the District loses through the tax credit
will simply be made up with the federal subsidy. In other words, Baptist
grandmothers in Muskogee and hardworking farmers in Vinita will be paying
for benefits for homosexuals.
Society cannot survive if we do not protect marriage. Our elected officials
in Washington are free to vote however they like, but when a vote represents
"the first time either body of Congress has voted to recognize a gay
relationship in any way, shape or form," the folks back home need to know
about it.

Keith Smith
The Smith Group
mail: OKSmith@aol.com
website: www.OklahomaLobbyist.com
6312 N Villa OKC, OK 73112
Phone: 405-840-2219
Fax: 405-858-0384
cell phone: 760-6801

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