Majority oppose Dover panel’s measure to allow same-sex unions

Delaware State News

DOVER — A proposal in support of same-sex marriage drew heavy opposition Wednesday night.

Most speakers in a public hearing before Dover Human Relations Commission urged the withdrawal or rejection of a resolution calling on city officials to push for extending the right to marry to homosexual couples.

Many said gay marriage would victimize children who would grow up without a father or a mother, depending on the gender of the couple with whom they lived. Others said it would threaten the very survival of mankind if it became widespread. A number cited the Bible as the source for their opposition.

"This world is on its way to destruction if you allow this to pass," Stephen Wilson, who described himself as an 18-year-old active church member, testified. "It’s wrong, and it’s absolutely from the enemy."

Only three speakers favored the resolution, which was authored by Commission Chairman Samuel B. Hoff.

It states "all citizens of Dover should be able to engage in legal matrimony, irrespective of sexual preference" and urges City Council and Mayor Carleton E. Carey Sr. "to take a stand in support of gay marriage as a human right and to advocate for passage of a law permitting gay marriage in Dover and throughout the state of Delaware."

Mike von Reider, one of the resolution’s few supporters who spoke, recommended an amendment, replacing "irrespective of sexual preference" with "irrespective of gender." Being straight or gay, he said, is not a result of preference but of an orientation that cannot be changed.

"I can no more become heterosexual than you could choose to be gay," he said.

Some 150 people, including speakers from as far away as Millsboro and Wilmington, packed the City Council chamber for the 90-minute hearing, with many in attendance forced to sit on the floor or stand.

A number of speakers noted the civil nature of the proceeding, which often included applause but never produced boos or catcalls.

Mr. Hoff was applauded by part of the audience when he concluded the hearing by calling it a "beneficial and positive exercise in democracy."

Earlier, some speakers questioned whether it is indeed democratic to allow decisions on matters such as same-sex marriage to be left in the hands of legislators. They called for a referendum on the question.

The testimony delivered Wednesday is to be considered by the commission June 24 when the panel is expected to debate and vote on the resolution.

David Anderson, an opponent of the resolution who formerly served on the commission, cautioned the current commissioners that they could undermine the commission’s "institutional integrity" by supporting a resolution that does not appear to reflect the values of the community.

Shaun Fink of Millsboro warned that society would face staggering costs for tax breaks, health care and other benefits if marriage is extended not only to gays, but to others who would demand the right to marry, including threesomes.

The commission’s hearing came a day after the California Supreme Court upheld a voter-enacted state ban on gay marriage. The court said California couples still have the right to civil unions.

In New Hampshire Wednesday, the state Senate agreed to negotiate a compromise with the House on a bill that would legalize gay marriage there. New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch opposes gay marriage but decided to view the issue "through a broader lens" and sign a legalization bill that protected churches and their employees from lawsuits if their beliefs preclude them marrying gays.

New Hampshire would join Iowa, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont and Maine in allowing same-sex marriage.

In Rhode Island, a Brown University poll, released Wednesday, found 60 percent of registered voters in that state would support a law allowing gay marriage. Bills to accomplish that are in committees in both the chambers of the Rhode Island legislature.

A Delaware statute defines a union of man and woman as the only valid marriage. Same-sex marriage has not often been directly addressed by state lawmakers since that legislation was enacted. But the possibility that gay marriage will be legalized in the state often is cited as a reason to scuttle proposals to outlaw discrimination based on sexual orientation in matters such as employment.

Such a proposal, House Bill 5, passed the Delaware House this year, but was rejected by a Senate committee. It is the latest on a years-long string of House-approved gay rights measures that have not come to a vote before the full Senate.

Dover Human Relations panel to take up topic in coming meetings

Delaware State News

DOVER — In a week in which a limited gay-rights bill was defeated in a Delaware Senate committee, the presentation of a resolution favoring gay marriage may seem like an exercise in futility.

"I don’t look at it that way," said Samuel B. Hoff, chairman of Dover Human Relations Commission, which will consider such a resolution in coming meetings. "We’re talking about a civil right and, more basic, a human right" that should be recognized.

Mr. Hoff is the author of the resolution, which declares "all citizens of Dover should be able to engage in legal matrimony, irrespective of sexual preference." The document urges City Council "to take a stand in support of gay marriage as a human right and to advocate for passage of a law permitting gay marriage in Dover and throughout the state of Delaware."

In an interview Friday, Mr. Hoff emphasized the resolution may not have the support of many of his fellow commissioners.

"It’s a very sensitive, very controversial issue," he said. "I don’t know what my colleagues’ actual position on it is. I haven’t pushed to find out their views."

Fear of eventual legalized marriage by homosexual couples has helped fuel opposition to measures such as House Bill 5, which would prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in housing, employment, public works contracting, public accommodations and insurance. The bill was approved in the state House of Representatives this year, but failed to gain enough votes Wednesday to be released from a Senate committee.

Similar House proposals also have died in the Senate in recent years.

Mr. Hoff’s resolution is "exponentially more advanced" than those bills, he said.

"People a century from now, in my opinion, are going to be shaking their heads and asking, ‘What took so long for equal rights?’" he said.

Attempts Friday afternoon to reach Dover activists on both sides of the gay-rights issue were unavailing.

Mr. Hoff likened the legalization of gay marriage in Delaware to other developments that once were widely viewed as unlikely, such as the dismantling of the Berlin Wall and the end of South African apartheid.

New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch said Thursday he will sign a bill to make his state the sixth to legalize gay marriage after state legislators amend the proposal to better protect churches and their employees against lawsuits if they object to marrying gays.

Dover residents can make their feelings about gay marriage known in a public hearing scheduled for the 7 p.m. Wednesday, May 27, meeting of the commission at City Hall. Comments will be limited to three minutes per person and one hour total, according to the meeting agenda.

The commission is to return to the subject at its monthly meeting in June.

"Our goal on the 27th is to get input, then at our June meeting have a commission debate and discussion on it," Mr. Hoff said.

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