Editorial

What would you expect the response to be of a person who signed a petition supporting a citizen initiative protecting traditional marriage in the state constitution when told that the effort has succeeded and Floridians will vote on the proposed amendment in November?

“Great! Let’s get to work to convince 60 percent of our fellow citizens to approve this important measure!” might be one response.

Perhaps you might expect to hear, “Congratulations to the thousands of Floridians who volunteered their valuable time to collect more than 611,000 petitions to qualify the amendment for the November ballot.”

Maybe such a supporter would say, “This is a marvelous accomplishment. However, since our foes can be expected to spend 10 million dollars to distort the truth and deceive voters about the intent and result of the marriage amendment, citizens will need to contribute the www.Florida4Marriage.org to ensure the truth gets out about this important public policy initiative.”

None of these responses, however, came from the lips of Gov. Charlie Crist, the man who campaigned as a conservative—including very publicly signing the Florida Marriage Protection Amendment—to win the Republican gubernatorial primary in 2006.

What did our governor tell reporters upon being informed that the marriage amendment would in fact be on the November ballot?

“It’s not an issue that moves me,” Crist told reporters Dec. 13, hours after John Stemberger, state chairman of Florida4Marriage.org, held a Tallahassee news conference to announce the marriage amendment had reached the threshold of qualifying for the 2008 ballot.

“I’m just a live and let live kind of guy,” Crist added. “There are things that give me greater concern, like cutting property taxes and paying school teachers more.”

While campaigning for office, I asked Crist if he supported the Florida Marriage Protection Amendment. He replied, “In fact, I’ve signed the petition for it.” His interview was published in the Aug. 24, 2006, issue of the Witness.

Even more emphatically, earlier on in the GOP contest, the Crist campaign said protecting marriage would be part of his plan to strengthen families. A March 22, 2006, Crist for Governor news release stated: “Crist’s Strengthening Florida’s Families recommendations will: protect marriage by aggressively defending the Defense of Marriage Act and supporting the constitutional amendment to prevent efforts to undermine marriage... .”

However, our “live and let live” governor by this past July was telling reporters concerning the marriage amendment, “I probably would vote for it, but I don’t think we need to spend money on it,” referring to his decision to deny further financial backing for the marriage amendment from the Florida Republican Party. He would “probably” vote for the amendment he signed a petition to put on the ballot. How’s that for not over-committing himself?

Crist’s laissez faire attitude about a measure he supposedly supports really should not be all that surprising. It’s part of a pattern in which Crist talked just conservatively enough during the campaign to get elected while governing during his first year in office as the moderate he actually is. Many Republican voters in the primary—and others in the general election—who bought Crist’s conservative claims are learning on issue after issue, Crist cannot be depended upon to defend certain pro-family concerns.

While Crist apparently will not do anything to put the weight of his office behind the marriage amendment, he is working overtime to convince voters to approve Amendment 1 to reduce Florida’s soaring property taxes, which voters will be asked to consider on the Jan. 29 presidential primary ballot.

The day after his comments downplaying the marriage amendment, Crist joined a rally to kick off the “Yes on 1—Save our Homes NOW” property tax amendment campaign and signed an e-mail sent across the state urging support for Amendment 1.

Don’t be looking for such a supportive e-mail from the governor using his bully pulpit for the marriage amendment, even though he signed a petition to put the matter before voters.

I’m proud of the fact that Florida Baptists have played a central role in the marriage amendment debate. From Lakeland pastor Jay Dennis’ unanimously approved motion at the 2004 Florida Baptist State Convention annual meeting urging a constitutional amendment to protect traditional marriage to last week in Tallahassee where Florida Baptist Convention legislative consultant Bill Bunkley spoke at the news conference announcing the petition drive’s success, Florida Baptists have taken the lead on this critical issue.

The proposed marriage amendment simply takes what is current state law in the Defense of Marriage Act and enshrines it in our state constitution in order to protect marriage from activist judges who wish to find a “right” to homosexual marriage in our constitution.

The good news is that we don’t need Gov. Crist’s help to pass the marriage amendment. Let’s convince our friends, relatives, co-workers and neighbors that protecting marriage is important and send a message to Gov. Crist and other politicians about the importance of the pro-family public policy agenda.