Pro-family groups
take on Big Labor
Demanding AFL-CIO
drop resolution backing same-sex marriage
WorldNetDaily from
the Web, June 18, 2005
Pro-family groups are joining forces
to demand labor unions rescind a recent resolution backing same-sex marriage.
The groups sent a letter to AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, asserting the
resolution threatens the rights of workers who support traditional marriage and
families, reported Agape Press.
The AFL-CIO Executive Committee's March 3 resolution, which labor officials
unanimously adopted, opposes federal and state constitutional amendments to
define marriage exclusively as a union between a man and a woman.
The resolution reiterates the AFL-CIO's "longstanding support for the full
inclusion and equal rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in
the workplace and society."
The Executive Committee says a federal Marriage Protection Amendment and its
state counterparts "threaten the rights of working people by creating an
environment across the nation that is hostile to the rights of domestic
partners, regardless of their sexual orientation."
But the coalition of pro-family leaders contends it's the AFL-CIO that is
threatening the rights of its workers who support traditional marriage and
families.
American Family Association chairman Don Wildmon says the family values
advocates who signed the letter to the national labor organization are united in
their purpose "to protect one-man, one-woman marriage and defend the precious
liberties of faithful Americans who belong to an AFL-CIO-affiliated union."
The family groups believe a majority of workers would vehemently oppose the
resolution.
Addressing Sweeney, the pro-family leaders write: "We firmly believe that
the overwhelming majority of dues-paying union members who finance the national
AFL-CIO and its organizational, political and lobbying activities strongly
oppose so-called homosexual 'marriage' as well as the broader political agenda
of homosexual and 'transgender' activists."
The coalition also is concerned that under the resolution, union dues and fees
collected as a condition of employment could be used to help pay for political
and lobbying activities designed to advance homosexual and transgender activists
agendas.
The coalition wants the Executive Committee to rescind the resolution at the
AFL-CIO's upcoming July 25-28 annual convention in Chicago.
The coalition, with more than three dozen national and state organizations,
includes the heads of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the
Southern Baptist Convention, Catholic Vote, the Coalition of African American
Pastors and a number of Christian television and radio networks.
Several prominent religious and conservative leaders are represented, including
Beverly LaHaye of the Beverly LaHaye Institute, Paul Weyrich of the Free
Congress Foundation, Janet Folger of Faith2Action, and Linda Chavez, who was
President Bush's original nominee for secretary of Labor.
The letter's other signatories include three Christian legal foundations, seven
AFA state affiliates and half a dozen affiliates of James Dobson's Focus on the
Family.
Among the Focus on the Family affiliates is Citizens for Community Values in
Cincinnati, led by former AFL-CIO union negotiator Phil Burress.
Burress's successful Ohio marriage amendment was widely credited with helping
President Bush win the crucial swing state in the November 2004 presidential
election.
In their letter, the pro-family leaders insisted that on the issue of marriage,
they speak for most of the union federation's 13 million members.
The coalition cited polls indicating a strong majority of union households last
year voted in favor of state marriage protection amendments, which were approved
by voters in 14 states, including heavily unionized states such as Michigan,
Ohio, Missouri, Oregon and Nevada.
The pro-family leaders have a countermeasure prepared in case the Executive
Committee refuses to rescind the resolution.
The signatories say they are committed to ensure that legal counsel and
representation will be provided at no charge to any union members who withhold
funding from the national AFL-CIO and its affiliate unions as a response to the
resolution.
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