Rev. William Owens, head of the Coalition of African American Pastors, said that President Obama’s support for gay marriage may cost him the election due by weakening his support among black voters.
“He has not done a smart thing and it might cost him the election,” Owens said during a press conference today at the National Press Club today. “There are more people that want marriage to be right than there are homosexuals.”
Owens, who said he supported Obama in 2008, announced that CAAP is launching a “Mandate for Marriage” campaign around the country to urge black voters to withhold their support from Obama unless he retracts his support for gay marriage.
Owens said that supporters of traditional marriage, not gay marriage, face discrimination. “Some people are saying because of the position that Chick-Fil-A has taken that they don’t want them in their city,” Owens noted. “It’s a disgrace. It’s the same thing that happened when I was marching for civil rights — when they didn’t want a black in their restaurant, they didn’t want us staying in their hotels. Now they’re saying, because we take a Christian position, they don’t want us in their cities.”
