# Sonnyboy Perdue fighting overturned gay marriage amendment **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 17, 2006, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sonnyboy-perdue-fighting-overturned-gay-marriage-amendment/357155 "2006-05-17T20:27:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2006, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sonnyboy-perdue-fighting-overturned-gay-marriage-amendment/357155/1 "2006-05-17T20:27:33Z")
Just had to stir up the gay marriage/activist judges quagmire with some news from Georgia… > [@](#): > > Perdue To Fight Georgia Gay Marriage Ruling > by [365Gay.com](http://365Gay.com) Newscenter Staff > > May 17, 2006 - 11:00 am ET > > (Atlanta, Georgia) Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue ® will meet with the Republican leadership in the state House and Senate, possibly as early as today, to plot a course for overturning Tuesday’s court ruling that struck down a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. > > Fulton County Superior Court Judge Constance C. Russell ruled that the measure, overwhelmingly approved by voters in 2004, violated a provision of the state constitution that limits ballot questions to a single subject. (story) > > Gay rights advocates who challenged the constitutionality of the amendment argued that it was misleading. Voters were asked only if they wanted to define marriage as between a man and a woman, not whether they also wanted to ban civil unions. > > In his written ruling Russell said the state’s voters must first decide whether same-sex relationships should have any legal status before they can be asked to decide whether same-sex marriages should be banned. > > An angry Perdue said that the ruling violated the will of the people and that a single judge should not be able to decide the issue. > > The governor said that he may recall the legislature in a special session to consider a possible new amendment to be put to voters in November, or appeal Russell’s ruling to the Georgia Supreme Court. > > Gay civil rights groups said they are not surprised that Perdue intends to fight the ruling. > > Georgia Equality noted that Russell’s ruling did not address the merits of banning same-sex relationships, only the way the question was presented to voters. > > “Judge Russell’s ruling addressed the process which was followed instead of the merits of equal marriage, by saying that the people are free to decide how relationships are treated under the law so long as the issues are presented to the voters in a manner that complies with the requirements of the constitution,” said Chuck Bowen, Executive Director of Georgia Equality. > > The amendment passed by a 3 - 1 margin in 2004. ---
**Author:** ![ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2006, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sonnyboy-perdue-fighting-overturned-gay-marriage-amendment/357155/2 "2006-05-17T20:43:50Z")
Lotsa mail coming about this today… > [@](#): > > Perdue may call special session on gay marriage > > By JAMES SALZER > The Atlanta Journal-Constitution > Published on: 05/17/06 > > Gov. Sonny Perdue said Wednesday that he will call a special session of the state Legislature on Aug. 9 if the Georgia Supreme Court does not hear an appeal by Aug. 7 of Tuesday’s court decision striking down a state constitutional amendment banning same sex marriages. > > The governor made the comments in a speech to the Atlanta Press Club on Wednesday. He said the Legislature would convene to reframe the constitutional amendment that banned gay marriage and would put it up for voter approval at the polls in November. > > Earlier in the day, state Attorney General Thurbert Baker said the decision would be appealed and that his office would request an expedited hearing. > > Fulton Superior Court Judge Constance Russell ruled Tuesday that the measure to ban gay marriage was presented incorrectly to voters. She did not rule on the merits of allowing gay couples to marry. Instead, she said the measure violates the state Constitution’s single-subject rule because it required voters to decide on marriage and civil unions in a single amendment. > > “In my opinion, the decision by the Fulton County Superior Court is wrongfully decided,” Baker said Wednesday. “I intend to press the Georgia Supreme Court to quickly correct the Superior Court’s error and re-instate the language adopted by Georgia voters in 2004.” > > Baker also said the statute in Georgia prohibiting the recognition of same-sex marriage was still on the books and had not been declared invalid; only the constitutional amendment was struck down. > > Also on Wednesday, a key legislative leader called for a special session to re-address gay marriage if the courts don’t reinstate the constitutional amendment. > > “If unresolved by the end of August — or resolved in opposition to the people’s vote — I fully support a special session,” said Senate President Pro-tem Eric Johnson (R-Savannah). “Marriage between a man and a woman must be protected.” > > An August special session would allow a debate a few weeks before the 2006 elections on an issue that spurred social conservative voters to the polls in 2004 to pass the original amendment. Republicans say it will boost their chances of retaining the governor’s mansion and the General Assembly if voters are drawn to the polls to vote on the gay marriage ban again. > > A special session would cost $30,000 to $40,000 a day. Critics say the constitutional amendment isn’t needed because state law already outlaws gay marriage. > > The Secretary of State’s Office said lawmakers would have until Aug. 14 to get another measure on the ballot. > > Gov. Sonny Perdue, who criticized the ruling Tuesday, is expected to announce the state’s official response to the decision at a luncheon this afternoon. > > Meanwhile, both of Perdue’s main Democratic opponents in this year’s governor’s race, Secretary of State Cathy Cox and Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor, reiterated their positions. > > “The people of Georgia have always believed, as I do, that marriage is the sacred union of one man and one woman,” Cox said. “Despite this new ruling, existing state law, which I strongly support, continues to define marriage as between one man and one woman.” ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2006, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sonnyboy-perdue-fighting-overturned-gay-marriage-amendment/357155/3 "2006-05-17T20:44:11Z")
Ah Georgia. Land of Michael Bowers, a state attorney general so dedicated to the sanctity of marriage that he fought all the way to the Supreme Court to deny a woman a job in his office because she planned on having a wedding ceremony with her female partner, while carrying on a ten-year adulterous affair in violation of state law. ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2006, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sonnyboy-perdue-fighting-overturned-gay-marriage-amendment/357155/4 "2006-05-17T20:45:48Z")
> [@](#): > > (Atlanta, Georgia) Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue ® will meet with the Republican leadership in the state House and Senate, possibly **as early as today** , to plot a course for overturning **Tuesday’s** court ruling Wow, you mean they actually let that immoral ruling remain undisturbed for a _whole day_ ??? :rolleyes: Isn’t it funny how legislators swing into action the moment a “serious” issue arises? Terrorist threats? Energy crisis? Natural disasters? High Crime Rate? Hey, wait a minute … 2 people of the same sex want to get married ??? Hey we’ve got to put a stop to that right now !!! What a bunch of narrow-minded dipshits !!! Yeah that _really_ deserves their undivided attention. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2006, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sonnyboy-perdue-fighting-overturned-gay-marriage-amendment/357155/5 "2006-05-17T21:02:39Z")
I think it would be interesting, not to mention constructive, if GA lawmakers drafted a fake though similarly worded ammendment outlawing ‘civil unions’ that also attempted to introduce language into the state constitution that homosexuals were, by definition, not ‘civilians’. It might very well pass, and then once everyone was done pointing and laughing, perhaps some actual ignorance fighting could take place. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2006, 9:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sonnyboy-perdue-fighting-overturned-gay-marriage-amendment/357155/6 "2006-05-18T09:23:36Z")
Meanwhile, that $50,000 per day would add a new classroom teacher for every day they are **not** in session. Think what a direct and important influence that could make on _thirty_ impressionable lives for every day. If they don’t meet for two weeks, ten new teachers could be teaching three hundred children to be **tolerant** , generous and civic-minded. Much better to spend two weeks in session drafting a punitive new amendment designed to “protect” that which is not threatened and to put asunder those whom God hath joined together whether your teeny tiny meany old legislative minds can see it or not. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2006, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sonnyboy-perdue-fighting-overturned-gay-marriage-amendment/357155/7 "2006-05-18T14:35:24Z")
> [@Otto](#): > > Ah Georgia. Land of Michael Bowers, a state attorney general so dedicated to the sanctity of marriage that he fought all the way to the Supreme Court to deny a woman a job in his office because she planned on having a wedding ceremony with her female partner, while carrying on a ten-year adulterous affair in violation of state law. was he also the Bowers of _Bowers and Hardwick_? ---
**Author:** ![Southpaw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@Southpaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southpaw)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2006, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sonnyboy-perdue-fighting-overturned-gay-marriage-amendment/357155/8 "2006-05-18T15:43:45Z")
> [@Senate President Pro-tem Eric Johnson (R-Savannah)](#): > > “Marriage between a man and a woman must be protected.” Protected from what? How is same sex marriage a threat to hetero marriage? This makes absolutely no sense. What’s next, a constitutional ammendment to “protect” the rights of wealthy white men? :wally ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2006, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sonnyboy-perdue-fighting-overturned-gay-marriage-amendment/357155/9 "2006-05-18T16:56:57Z")
> [@Otto](#): > > Ah Georgia. Land of Michael Bowers, a state attorney general so dedicated to the sanctity of marriage that he fought all the way to the Supreme Court to deny a woman a job in his office because she planned on having a wedding ceremony with her female partner, while carrying on a ten-year adulterous affair in violation of state law. I assume you mean that it was Bowers carrying on the adulterous rellationship, not the woman? ---
**Author:** ![ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2006, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sonnyboy-perdue-fighting-overturned-gay-marriage-amendment/357155/10 "2006-05-18T17:23:04Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > I assume you mean that it was Bowers carrying on the adulterous rellationship, not the woman? Yep ---
**Author:** ![IGJoe1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e9bcb4/32.png) [@IGJoe1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IGJoe1)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2006, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sonnyboy-perdue-fighting-overturned-gay-marriage-amendment/357155/11 "2006-05-18T17:53:02Z")
IMO this is just a ploy to appease the folks he pissed off when he took the confederate flag off of the state flag. Trailer trash all over the state still sport bumper stickers complaining of this injustice. Championing the gay marriage ban will imply your for the ‘homersexuls’ if you try and vote against him later. Dont get me wrong, it’s still stupid and narrow-minded… and bigoted. ---
**Author:** ![cerberus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@cerberus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cerberus)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2006, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sonnyboy-perdue-fighting-overturned-gay-marriage-amendment/357155/12 "2006-05-19T04:34:44Z")
The basis for the ruling is a technicality: referenda are only allowed to encompass a single issue. **A Single Fucking Issue** The Republican Taliban (Republitans) have pulled this several times, and in eahc state, the result is the same: **Single Fucking Issue**. The lesson? Let’s whip up the “base” by doing a choice bit of fag-bashing. Draft and pass through the legislature a defective, **Multiple Issue Referendum** , and let the masses have their fun. And when the courts **correctly** shoot the fucker down, it’s the damned _activist courts running amok_, which, you guessed it, revs up their “base”. Georgia also had Gingrich, the thrice-married, leave-the-wife-at-her-cancer-bed Defender of Marriage and Family Values. Grrr, I say, Grrr. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2006, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sonnyboy-perdue-fighting-overturned-gay-marriage-amendment/357155/13 "2006-05-19T06:01:55Z")
> [@cerberus](#): > > Georgia also had Gingrich, the thrice-married, leave-the-wife-at-her-cancer-bed Defender of Marriage and Family Values. And Bob Barr, the family values and pro-Life champion and co-sponsor of the Defense of Marriage Act, himself thrice married and outed by Larry Flynt (with a deposition from his ex-wife) as a serial adulterer, deadbeat dad who encouraged her to have an abortion and paid for it. (When Barr said he never paid for it Flynt, through the ex-wife, produced the cancelled check, whereupon Barr claimed he didn’t know what it was for when he wrote it.) Barr now works for the ACLU (?!) And so many others that it ain’t even fun to name 'em anymore. Proven adulterers/adulteresses and divorcees out the wazoo who chant “woe unto marriage for the fags are upon us” as if neither they nor their dumbass constituents were aware that Jesus himself condemned divorce/remarriage and the Bible mentions acts of charity a hell of a lot more than it condemns faggotry. ---
**Author:** ![ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2006, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sonnyboy-perdue-fighting-overturned-gay-marriage-amendment/357155/14 "2006-05-19T15:31:48Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > “woe unto marriage for the fags are upon us” T-shirt…XXL…I’ll pay extra for overnight delivery. ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2006, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sonnyboy-perdue-fighting-overturned-gay-marriage-amendment/357155/15 "2006-05-19T15:40:02Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > And so many others that it ain’t even fun to name 'em anymore. Proven adulterers/adulteresses and divorcees out the wazoo who chant \*\*“woe unto marriage for the fags are upon us” \*\* as if neither they nor their dumbass constituents were aware that Jesus himself condemned divorce/remarriage and the Bible mentions acts of charity a hell of a lot more than it condemns faggotry. Sampiro, I think I love you. Your ability to turn a phrase to perfectly suit the situation yet always be hysterically funny. I too will take that tshirt, small or medium. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2006, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sonnyboy-perdue-fighting-overturned-gay-marriage-amendment/357155/16 "2006-05-19T15:42:16Z")
> [@Antinor01](#): > > Sampiro, I think I love you. Your ability to turn a phrase to perfectly suit the situation yet always be hysterically funny is pure gold. I too will take that tshirt, small or medium. 🙂 Bah, that’s what I get for changing things and not previewing. Correction made above. ---
**Author:** ![DoctorJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctorj/32/2904_2.png) [@DoctorJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoctorJ)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2006, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sonnyboy-perdue-fighting-overturned-gay-marriage-amendment/357155/17 "2006-05-19T20:50:12Z")
> [@](#): > > The lesson? Let’s whip up the “base” by doing a choice bit of fag-bashing. Draft and pass through the legislature a defective, Multiple Issue Referendum, and let the masses have their fun. And when the courts correctly shoot the fucker down, it’s the damned activist courts running amok, which, you guessed it, revs up their “base”. You left out the best part: if it gets overturned, that means they get to put it on the ballot in another election, revving up the base yet again. It’s almost as if they intentionally drafted a resolution that would get overturned, so they could go to this particular well again. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2006, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sonnyboy-perdue-fighting-overturned-gay-marriage-amendment/357155/18 "2006-05-19T21:09:41Z")
> [@DoctorJ](#): > > You left out the best part: if it gets overturned, that means they get to put it on the ballot in another election, revving up the base yet again. It’s almost as if they intentionally drafted a resolution that would get overturned, so they could go to this particular well again. Which, in the long run, might work to the benefit of gay right activists. Keeping the issue out there, in the public mind, gives them more time to change opinions. The nice thing about this issue is that the arguments against gay marriage are so stupid that it’s much harder to change someone who’s pro into someone who’s anti than it is to do it the other way around. The longer it gets debated, the more people are going to come around to the sensible side of the debate, or at least get sick of the whole thing and stop listening to (and voting for) it. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2006, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sonnyboy-perdue-fighting-overturned-gay-marriage-amendment/357155/19 "2006-05-19T21:40:22Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Which, in the long run, might work to the benefit of gay right activists. Keeping the issue out there, in the public mind, gives them more time to change opinions. The nice thing about this issue is that the arguments against gay marriage are so stupid that it’s much harder to change someone who’s pro into someone who’s anti than it is to do it the other way around. The longer it gets debated, the more people are going to come around to the sensible side of the debate, or at least get sick of the whole thing and stop listening to (and voting for) it. I think there’s something to that argument. The most recent figures i saw suggested that Americans opposing gay marriage are still a slight majority (just over 50%), but the news story reporting those figures said that this represented a drop from about 63% a couple of years ago. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2006, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sonnyboy-perdue-fighting-overturned-gay-marriage-amendment/357155/20 "2006-05-20T00:43:50Z")
Ya know what? I’m so fucking sick and tired of hearing about this nameless. faceless base. Fuck them narrow minded dominionistic shit heads. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sonnyboy-perdue-fighting-overturned-gay-marriage-amendment/357155.md?page=2)