About the Florida Marriage Protection Amendment

"The Amendment prohibits any other legal union that is treated as marriage or the
substantial equivalent thereof from being valid or recognized as marriage."

- From the Florida4Marriage Website
http://www.florida4marriage.org/faqs.html

The Florida Marriage Protection Amendment, Petition #05-10, is the proposed constitutional amendment that would add discriminatory language to the Florida State Constitution if it is passed by Florida voters.

The proposed amendment reads as follows:

"Be it enacted by the people of Florida that:
A new section for Article I is hereby created to add the following:

Inasmuch as marriage is the legal union of only one man and one woman as husband and wife, no other legal union that is treated as marriage or the substantial equivalent thereof shall be valid or recognized"

Does this really affect civil unions?

YES! If they provide the equal rights of marriage

"So long as a law, ordinance or regulation does not grant unmarried couples the same panoply of rights, protections, benefits, responsibilities, obligations and duties as are granted to and imposed upon married couples, it will not be affected by the proposed Amendment." From the INITIAL BRIEF OF FLORIDA4MARRIAGE.ORG Case No. SC05-1563 PAGE 16

"this amendment hurts millions of
tax paying Floridians by denying BOTH equal civil marriage and civil unions"

If Florida voters pass this constitutional amendment, not only will hundreds of thousands of tax-paying gay and lesbian couples forever be denied equal access to civil marriage, but all other forms of legal recognition, including domestic partnerships and civil unions, may no longer be valid or recognized.

"the Constitution is for ALL citizens,
not just those who are Christian"

Florida4Marriage.Org, based in Orlando, Florida, is the group responsible for sponsoring this petition initiative. This group and others, like the Liberty Counsel are working extremely hard to enshrine their personal, religious beliefs in our state's constitution - a constitution which governs all tax-paying Floridians, regardless of difference in religion. Click here to see the top 5 financial supporters of this amendment.

Numerous churches, politicians, private organizations and individuals have endorsed this petition initiative and the list includes a host of state senators, representatives, and county officials, including Governor Charlie Crist. Click here to see Petition Endorsers on the Know Thy Neighbor Florida home page and if you see businesses located in your area on this list, you are highly encouraged to spend your money elsewhere and avoid lining the pockets of those who would give you second-class citizenship. Most importantly, please be sure to pass this information on to other fair-minded Floridians!