Fridae

The Southern Baptist Convention and other conservative groups are trying to make same-sex marriage a top issue in next year's elections. The group announced its decision to issue a formal "declaration on marriage" later this month to demand that all candidates - at all levels - for office in 2004 sign a pledge to support a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage.

The convention supports a proposed amendment to the US Constitution that would define marriage solely as a union between a man and a woman and would prohibit recognition of all same-sex civil unions and domestic partnerships.

"We want to make sure there is no confusion about what the Bible says on this issue," said Dr Richard Land, who heads the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberties Commission, in a press statement.

The denomination already has endorsed a longstanding statement that says homosexuality is a sin, but church leaders say that needs to be toughened in light of the US Supreme Court decision that essentially legalised sodomy throughout the country and Sunday's consecration of a gay Episcopalian bishop.

"We hope to make every candidate in this 2004 election cycle - be he or she a candidate for president, Senate, Congress, governor, or state legislature - answer the question 'Are you for or against the federal marriage amendment?' And then we will make sure everyone we influence knows how the candidate answered it," he said.

He claimed that the convention has been forced into a "cultural war and a spiritual war" as the gay community is already too involved in politics.

"The homosexual activists are out to normalise and affirm their lifestyle and to marginalise those of us who believe it's unnatural and unholy," he said. "When we get attacked, we fight back. They want a war for the high ground of this culture, they got it, and we intend to win it."

As part of the effort to recruit "ordinary soldiers" to the "spiritual battleground," the leader of the convention's publishing house and bookstore chain has offered discounts to employees who buy copies of The Homosexual Agenda. The book, which was reprinted in paperback in July, purports to show how "radical" gay activists are attempting to achieve their goals through the courts, allegedly at the expense of Christian values.

Mark Shields, a spokesman for the largest national lesbian and gay political group Human Rights Campaign, said the convention's campaign is a ''blatant attack and assault on gay couples and their families."

''We're all taught that a basic part of the American dream is to grow up, fall in love, partner with someone and live out our lives. That dream is no different for gay Americans,'' he said.

"It's time for the gay community and their supporters to become involved in the political process," Shields added.
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court is due to rule whether same-sex couples can legally wed in the Commonwealth. Should the court rule in favour of same-sex marriages, other states might have to allow suit.