Armed with a petition signed by more than 1,300 people, LGBT activists on Monday plan to deliver a firm message to Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens: Don't defend the state's gay marriage ban.
Even Conservatives agree that defending Georgia’s ban on same-sex marriage is a waste of time and money.
The week that a lawsuit was filed to overturn Georgia’s constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, conservative talk radio host Neal Boortz took to the airwaves to warn Republican leaders in Georgia to not spend their time and efforts defending a law that is ultimately indefensible.
“There's a couple of things Republican voters in Georgia need to learn, need to pay attention to. We have a fight coming up over gay marriage. A gay couple has filed a lawsuit to have their marriage recognized in Georgia.
Listen to me. They are going to win this lawsuit. That is the way the law is going…” – Neal Boortz on WSB radio
And younger voters know it too. A recent AJC poll indicated that 64% of voters aged 18 to 39 support the freedom to marry. Anyone can read the future of this issue in the polls and in the 13 legal cases that have overturned similar laws around the country in recent months.
You have the opportunity to do the right thing and avoid wasting tax-payer money defending the indefensible. Georgians of all political stripes support marriage equality and don’t want to see Georgia’s leaders spend our money to be on the wrong side of history yet again.
As a Georgian I'm asking you to decline to defend Georgia's Constitutional Amendment banning the freedom to marry.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Not that the effort from Georgia Equality will persuade Olens, who has said that he plans to defend the state's marriage ban against a legal challenge. Nevermind the conservatives who say defending the ban is a lost cause or the more than 200 attorneys who say the ban is doomed.
Olens faces a Monday deadline to respond to the federal lawsuit filed in April.
On Monday morning, Georgia Equality and same-sex couples will deliver the petitions to Olen's office in downtown Atlanta. But there's still time to sign.
To date, more than a half dozen attorneys general in states across the country – including Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and Virginia – have declined to defend laws that deny the freedom to marry to same-sex couples. Georgia Equality stands with thousands of Georgian families urging Attorney General Olens to do the same.
