Maryland Delegate, Pastor Emmett C. Burns is a staunch opponent of same-sex marriage.
ON FIRST SUNDAY AFTER PRESIDENT’S
DECLARATION OF SUPPORT FOR GAYS
African-Americans believe in Adam and Eve,
not Adam and Steve — Kenneth N. Oliver,
Baltimore County Councilman (D—4th District)
on former ‘All Politics Is Local’ radio show
By Alan Z. Forman
On the first Sunday following the President’s announcement of support for same-sex marriage in America, African-American ministers throughout the State of Maryland spoke out against Barack Obama’s declaration and that of his Vice President on the subject.
Most notably outraged was Del. Emmett C. Burns Jr., a Baptist minister who represents the state’s 10th District in the House of Delegates, who accused the President of saying to his black constituency: “I am going against your beliefs and your thoughts.”
Burns is pastor of the Rising Sun First Baptist Church in Baltimore County, on St. Luke’s Lane in the Gwynn Oak area of Woodlawn. His legislative district, which he has represented since 1995, is home to one of the highest percentages of African-American residents in the state.
In fact, Burns told his church members Sunday, he is so heavily opposed to same-sex marriage he will no longer support the President for reelection and predicted that Obama will lose in November because of his position.
A little over a year ago, a Baltimore County Council member from the same area told Voice of Baltimore on WCBM-Talkradio-680-AM that blacks in his district were adamantly opposed to the legalization of gay unions altogether.
On the former Sunday night election-cycle call-in show, “All Politics Is Local,” hosted by Attorney Jay L. Liner, a former counsel in the administration of ex-Baltimore County Executive James T. Smith Jr., Councilman Kenneth N. Oliver (D-4th) declared:
“African-Americans believe in Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve.”
According to Baltimore County Councilman Ken Oliver, ‘African-Americans believe in Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve.’
Black constituencies nationwide, especially in the South, are known to be strongly opposed to same-sex union. In Maryland these constituencies represent some 30 percent of the state’s population, leading to speculation an expected referendum on the legislation recently passed by the General Assembly legalizing gay marriage may well put the new law in jeopardy.
One of the few black ministers who support same-sex marriage is Rev. Delman Coates, senior pastor of Mt. Ennon Baptist Church in Clinton, Md., where he has served since 2004.
Coates told his congregation Sunday he considers this to be “an issue of the separation of church and state” and that Americans “should not allow our subjective theological understandings to prevent other citizens of this country from having equal rights.”
Prodded by Vice President Joseph R.“Joe” Biden Jr.’s unexpected declaration of support for gay marriage early last week the President was forced to announce his own support much sooner than he had intended to do, having hoped to wait till close to Election Day to broach the sensitive issue, which now promises to be a major point of contention between him and the prospective Republican nominee, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who is a staunch opponent.
At present, it is unclear whether the announcement has hurt or helped the President vis-à-vis the general population, but there is no question that it runs contrary to the beliefs of the majority of African-Americans, his core constituency.
30 STATES HAVE REJECTED SAME-SEX MARRIAGE
To date, a total of 30 states have rejected same-sex marriage, with just six — Massachusetts, Vermont, Connecticut, New Hampshire, New York and Iowa — plus the District of Columbia granting licenses, along with Oregon’s Coquille and Washington State’s Suquamish Indian Tribes.
California legalized same-sex marriage in 2008, only to have the law rescinded by Proposition 8, a referendum prohibiting it in that year’s November election.
Maryland and Washington State legislatures both passed authorizing legislation this year, either or both of which could be overturned by referendum in the 2012 presidential election.
A day before Obama’s declaration, voters in North Carolina joined other southern states by overwhelmingly (61 percent) banning not only gay marriage but same-sex civil unions as well.
Obama has said his view is “evolving.”
Delegate Burns is currently collecting signatures to get the Maryland referendum on the November ballot.
“We will get the requisite number of signatures and we will have it on the ballot and they [supporters of the legislation] will lose badly,” he told the media in February.
“The end is not here. It ain’t over till it’s over.”
alforman@voiceofbaltimore.org
May 14th, 2012 - 8:58 AM
Funny how the ones who were discriminated against are now the ones pointing the finger! Christians don’t judge or hate, did you all forget to read that part! Stop holding your race back and evolve with the rest of the world!
May 14th, 2012 - 5:00 PM
Not everyone feels this way. http://youtu.be/ywImcNViPtc
May 14th, 2012 - 5:23 PM
Adam and Eve? Google First Scandal.
May 14th, 2012 - 10:07 PM
In 2008 President Obama believed that marriage was between a man and a woman. I agreed. In 2012 he believes that men should be able to marry men and women should be able to marry women. I don’t agree. My values are rooted in my Christian beliefs and while I will love gays and support their civil rights, if I have the chance to vote (MD) I will vote my value system and not the President’s flavor of the month. I see the country on a down hill morality slope where every behavior is OK. NY recently passed a ruling that it’s OK to view child porn. What’s next? Most of you have opinions on which you base your life decisions and more than likely there are some who don’t agree. That’s not judging, that’s just having a personal value system that guides your life. Vote your heart, vote your values, just don’t vote the flavor of the day because it will always change.
May 14th, 2012 - 11:33 PM
Thanks, everybody, for those insightful comments. However VoB hopes we didn’t imply that the majority of African-American clergy was “passing judgment” on gays, only that they oppose same-sex marriage on religious grounds.
We can’t speak for everyone of course; but as Burnadette notes, one can “love gays and support their civil rights” while still believing that marriage should be reserved to heterosexual couples.
Regarding the New York ruling on child pornography she refers to, check out the Associated Press story in today’s Wall Street Journal: http://tinyurl.com/7olxyu3
It’s encouraging to see that Empire State legislators acted almost immediately to right that wrong. However Presidents, like other politicians, often shift with what they perceive to be the political winds.
May 15th, 2012 - 1:38 PM
It seems that many Black Christians are hypercritical when it comes to what’s in the Bible. Christians quote the Leviticus chapter against sleeping with the same sex but ignore other Leviticus verses that prohibit the eating of shellfish, wearing of tatoos, wool, leather and 1 Timothy 2:9 bans the wearing of braids, gold and pearls. The bible bans many other things, such as divorce and sex outside of marriage but Black Christians don’t put the same emphasis on these violations of the Bible as they do on same sex marriage; a double standard?
Why are Christians so threatened by same sex marriage. If you don’t like same sex marriage, don’t marry someone of the same sex, but how does same sex marriage undermine hetrosexual when it seems that divorce, strip clubs and sports are more of a threat to marriage than gays.
May 16th, 2012 - 6:11 AM
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