Ministers' stance ignores equality
By BYRON WILLIAMS
Published on: 03/31/2004

I am deeply saddened, almost to the point of embarrassment, about the title of "Rev." that precedes my name. Last week, more than two dozen of my brethren black pastors in Atlanta publicly opted for the safety of status-quo bigotry, in lieu of confronting the nation's more pressing moral issues.
By declaring their beliefs in writing, the 29 pastors added their voices to the critics of same-sex marriage, attempting to distance the civil rights struggle from the gay rights movement and defending marriage as a union between a man and a woman.
The civil rights movement didn't just improve conditions for African-Americans; it made America as a whole better. Every American is an heir to the civil rights movement, if not by birth then by legal inheritance. The moral force of the movement challenged America to be self-reflective by asking: Are we living out the Jeffersonian creed that all are, indeed, created equal?
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Georgia's gay marriage ban too close to call
By JIM THARPE
Cox News Service
ATLANTA -- Georgia lawmakers braced for a final showdown today over a proposed constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage, one of the most divisive issues to confront the General Assembly in years.