A political candidate and a gay rights advocate disagree during a meeting of the Tiger Bay Club of Tampa.
By BILL VARIAN
Published March 20, 2004
TAMPA - Frank Shannon told the Tiger Bay Club of Tampa that his opposition to same-sex marriage is based on his Catholic faith.
Part of that faith tells him marriage is the union between a man and a woman with the goal of producing children, to perpetuate humankind from generation to generation. If you can't possibly produce children - as is the case with same-sex couples - you shouldn't be able to get married, said Shannon, a Republican candidate for the District 56 Florida House seat.
That's when the postmenopausal women spoke up.
"I can't have children," said Judith Curts, a psychotherapist and clinical sexologist. "Should I not get married?"
"I am null and void also," said Eddye Bexley, 60. Shannon told them there are plenty of postmenopausal women who think their childbearing days are over only to find out otherwise.
Curts assured him it was not so in her case.
There is always the "potentiality" of children between a man and a woman, but not between people of the same sex, Shannon said.
"(Same-sex unions) would relegate marriage to a sexual basis rather than a spiritual one," he said.
Friday's luncheon forum was billed as a debate between Shannon and Nadine Smith, executive director of Equality Florida, a gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender rights group based in Tampa. But as is often the case at Tiger Bay forums, much of the debating took place through the question-and-answer session with the audience.
The session also took the form of personal confessional at times. Shannon, a former bank employee and current hobby store worker from the Brandon area, mentioned he has two children but is divorced. He said he sought marital counseling on his own and tried to preserve the marriage. And he volunteered that he was a virgin when he married and is celibate now.
Asked whether that made him a hypocrite, because Catholicism shuns divorce, Shannon said the marriage was annulled.
Smith fielded mostly softballs from a seemingly supportive assembly - or at least one with mixed or not-strong feelings about same-sex marriage. Another club member, Mike Addison, confessed that he, too, was going through a divorce. He jokingly wondered why gays or lesbians would want to put themselves through the pain of that potential outcome.
Smith joked right back.
"Some have said that divorce is like having your heart ripped out through your wallet," she said, to the loudes laughter of the debate.
More seriously, she said gays and lesbians would like to have the protections at least that come through the divorce process when a marriage is recognized as legitimate - legal division of property and financial support for dependent children.
Smith was married in February in San Francisco to her longtime partner when the mayor of that city ordered that gays be allowed to marry. The ceremonies were since halted by the California Supreme Court until it has time to review the matter.
She said people who wish to have same-sex marriages legalized are simply looking for the same rights others take for granted. She said opposition to interracial marriage was even stronger before it was legalized.
She recalled an experience when her partner was hospitalized, and she was denied admittance to her hospital room as she anxiously tried to learn what was ailing her.
Smith said she does not demonize people who oppose same-sex marriages, including Shannon, saying she recognizes the issues it involves are not always easy for people.
"What I ask Frank (to do) is to keep his laws out of my life," Smith said. "What I want government to do is stop interfering with my ability to uphold the vows I gave to my wife."
