This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2004, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Jarrett Ellis, a nephew of Dr. Martin Luther King, spoke to the Massachusetts General Assembly regarding the civil rights and gay marriage issue. He said that while our forefathers saw the need to equip America to protect the weakest among its citizens, they also saw an equal need to protect the American system from the weaknesses of its citizens.
At least one of three criteria must be met in order to claim a civil rights violation: 1) a history of economic disenfranchisement, 2) a history of political disenfranchisement or 3) unfair legal discrimination based upon an immutable, intrinsic trait or characteristic. Mr. Ellis quoted King's mother, Avleda C. King, who said, “I have met many ex-homosexuals just as I have met many ex-husbands, ex-wives, ex-drug addicts and ex-lawyers. Yet I have never met an ex-Negro, ex-Caucasian, or ex-Native American.”
The politics of preference does not jibe with civil rights legitimacy. Science can offer no proof of intrinsic homosexual orientation but there is a large body of scientific evidence that mature behavior patterns rely more on social shaping and choices than genetic predisposition. The complete speech is at http://www.mafamily.org.
The gay community would like us to believe their numbers are high. Don't let 2 percent of the population bully us into changing a 5,000-year institution. I believe Dr. King would vote yes on Amendment 3, as I will.
Marti Grobecker
Draper