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While standing on the corner of 34th Street and San Pablo Avenue, a haven for drugs and prostitution and one of the most violent areas in the city, according to Oakland police, a group of black pastors, citing biblical opposition to same-sex marriage, openly declared their support for President Bush in the November election. I have no problem with the pastors in question supporting the president; there is nothing to suggest African-American politics should be monolithic in its support, but how can same-sex marriage be THE issue? The pastors, in taking a position to the right of Vice President Dick Cheney, were concerned that Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry favors letting states decide whether to allow same-sex marriages. It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than to amend the Constitution -- the latter has only happened 27 times in our history. Perhaps the pastors were unaware that, before, the Senate used three days of the people's business to debate a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage that most knew it had no chance of passing. Kerry's position is identical to that of many conservatives: A ban on same-sex marriage does not rise to the level of a constitutional amendment, thereby making it a nonissue that should be left up to the states to decide. Assuming that I understand the argument of the pastors correctly, they have opted to use some of their leadership capital to support the president's re-election based solely on his rhetoric on a nonissue. How can the pastors give this single nonissue greater importance than the candidates' positions on aid to poor children, military spending, stem cell research, education, labor and environmental protections on trade agreements, health care, a livable wage or corporate welfare? [more]

African American Pastors Rally Against Gay Marriage on Capitol [more]
Homophobia: the last acceptable prejudice in America [more]