eva young
Eva Young is President of Log Cabin Republicans of Minnesota and lives in Minneapolis with her cat, Kiddleleewink. You can also read her other blog here.
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September 23, 2004

The Strib has some interesting profiles of voters.....

Bob Battle is a well known fixture in St Paul politics. Recently I've seen him featured in the Minnesota Family Council's "Pro-Family News"..... He testified and spoke at a press conference at the hearing for the anti-gay amendment in Minnesota. When he spoke at the press conference, he identified himself as the former chair of the St Paul Human Rights Commission. I asked Mayor Randy Kelly about that, when Kelly spoke to a gay audience at TC Quorum. I asked if Battle was giving the St Paul Human Rights Commission a bad name with his statement - especially since St Paul had passed a resolution in opposition to the Minnesota version of the anti-family amendment.

Now Battle is blaming gays for the loss of morality: "We've lost our moral dignity, lost our sense of family and morality, and we're about to go down the
same path as the Roman Empire."

Voter: The Rev. Bob Battle, 64, pastor of Berean Church of God in Christ, an evangelical church in St. Paul.

Preference: Solid for Bush. An African-American community leader with 40 years of activism in the Democratic Party, Battle recently switched allegiances and supported Republican Norm Coleman for the U.S. Senate. Like some other black religious leaders, he has openly broken with the Democratic Party on the gay marriage issue. "This society has to make a course correction. ... We've lost our moral dignity, lost our sense of family and morality, and we're about to go down the same path as the Roman Empire."

On the political climate: "Really, everybody wants the same thing: security, good education, good jobs, good government. ... The differences are played up too much."

A related article describes two African American Ministers who oppose Gay Marriage. One is Battle, who was recruited by Norm Coleman to switch to the Republican party. The other is Rev Efrem Smith of North Minneapolis, who also opposes gay marriage, but is supporting the Democrats for many other reasons. More here:

For many, differences on moral issues are matters of degree. The Rev. Bob Battle, of the Berean Church in St. Paul, is a Bush supporter. The Rev. Efrem Smith, of the Sanctuary Covenant Church in Minneapolis, is leaning toward Kerry and considers himself a "progressive Christian."

They share nearly identical theologies about salvation through Jesus Christ and the truth of the Bible. Both are black evangelical ministers, and as such belong at once to an African-American community that has become overwhelmingly Democratic in recent decades and to an evangelical community that has become strongly Republican. Moral priorities distinguish them.

Battle strongly opposes gay marriage, is worried about rampant drug abuse and sexual immorality and thinks America is descending into decadence, "much like the Roman Empire." It's a major factor in his transition to the GOP after 40 years as a Democrat.

Smith says conservative evangelicals "see the world through the Christian lens of individual responsibility and individual salvation." He shares those values, and admires the GOP for marketing itself as the party of the "ideal American family that works hard and stays together."

But, Smith adds, "I believe that social justice and addressing the needs of the poor are just as central to the Christian message." Smith has decided that gay marriage, which he too opposes, "is not the number one issue ... not when you look at the number of African-Americans shot and killed on our streets."

Ofcourse, John Kerry also opposes gay marriage..... Bush, Kerry and Edwards have explicitly said they oppose gay marriage. Interestingly enough, Dick Cheney has not said that.

Now the question is this - will this be the one and only Republican effort to woe African American voters - to appeal to anti-gay animus in the Black church?

PS - Regarding Swagart.... Isn't he the guy who was filmed hustling prostitutes - and one of his prostitutes ended up telling Penthouse magazine that Swaggart had wanted to know the cost of procuring her 10 year old daughter. Yup - good "family values" there.