Barrow Flip-Flops On Gay Marriage Amendment
May-18, 2006
Barrow Flip-Flops On Gay Marriage Amendment
(Savannah, Georgia) - Running in a new congressional district that is more conservative than the one in which he was first elected to represent, Athens Congressman John Barrow has now changed positions on banning gay marriage even though he has worked with the gay community to advance their agenda.
In the 2004 election, Barrow was against efforts to amend the federal and state constitutions defining marriage as a union between a man and women. Barrow, who is up for re-election in a new district that is less friendly to his liberal views, says he now supports efforts to amend the federal constitution banning gay marriage. Barrow hopes the 2004 Georgia amendment that he opposed last election will be reinstated despite a Fulton County Superior Court judge's ruling this week saying the amendment as presented to the voters was unconstitutional.
"Campaigning in the old 12th District, John Barrow was opposed to both the federal and state constitutional amendments banning gay marriage, even criticizing me for supporting the federal amendment" said Burns. "Now in the new 12th District that no longer includes liberal Athens, John Barrow has changed his tune and wants the Georgia constitutional amendment banning gay marriage restored and has even co-sponsored the federal amendment. John Barrow is a liberal, two-faced hypocrite from Athens, Georgia that will say and do anything to get elected."
During the July 16, 2004, Georgia Public Television debate, Barrow said, "I am opposed to amending the federal or state constitution in the manner proposed." Barrow went on to say later in the campaign at a UGA College Democrat rally (9/22/04), "Max Burns has supported and has sponsored a very hateful, I think discriminatory federal marriage amendment that not only defines marriage but also seeks to ban or bar any state or federal legislation that would confer marriage benefits on same sex couples. I have worked hard with the folks in the gay community to try and help (alleviate) their status as the most beleaguered minorities in the country. And I think it is the civil rights issue of our time."
Now in 2006 and in the new 12th District, Barrow said "Like most Georgians, I hope that the Georgia Supreme Court will overturn yesterday's ruling. But I'm not willing to stand by as the will of the people is cast aside on technicalities. That is why this morning I have cosponsored two bills that deal directly with same sex marriage: House Joint Resolution 39 and House Resolution 1100." House Joint Resolution 39 would adopt a Constitutional Amendment declaring that marriage in the United States consists only of a legal union of a man and a woman, and House Resolution 1100, the Marriage Protection Act, would amend the Federal judicial code to limit the jurisdiction of Federal courts to hear or decide questions related to the Defense of Marriage Act, passed in 2004. (Congressman John Barrow's Website, 5/17/06)
"John Barrow needs to explain his departure from helping the gay community and the position he took in the old 12th District concerning gay marriage and what led him to change his mind while running in the new 12 th District, or Georgians will be left to conclude that this is yet another election-year conversion that makes people so cynical about government and their elected officials. Georgians are a whole lot smarter than John Barrow gives them credit for. That's not how we do it around here," Burns said.
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