Kerry, Jackson tell blacks to ignore gay ‘marriage’ issue

MIAMI — Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry and civil rights activist the Rev. Jesse Jackson told black voters at a church here yesterday that President Bush’s support for a constitutional amendment against homosexual “marriage” shouldn’t be enough to earn their vote.

Mr. Kerry attended Mass at a Catholic church in North Miami, and then spoke during services at Friendship Missionary Baptist Church in Miami , as he and several black Democratic leaders tried to rally black voters.

“How many of you — someone from your family — married somebody of the same sex?” Mr. Jackson asked of the congregation of about 500. After nobody raised a hand, he asked, “Then how did that get in the middle of the agenda?”

“If your issues are cancer and Medicare and education and jobs and Social Security and decent housing, then how did someone else put their agenda in the front of the line?” he asked.

Following him a few minutes later, Mr. Kerry urged his audience to try to ignore diversions from the issues Mr. Jackson had mentioned.

“All they’re going to do is attack and attack and try and divert, and push some hot button that has nothing to do with the quality of your life on a daily basis,” the senator from Massachusetts said.

Both parties wonder how well black voters, who traditionally vote Democratic, will turn out to support Mr. Kerry on Nov. 2. The senator has invested time in the past two weeks visiting churches with primarily black congregations and meetings of ministers.

The issue of banning homosexuals from marrying is a wild card, with polls showing black voters overwhelmingly in support of such a ban.

But Mr. Kerry yesterday said, “Don’t let them fool you with these diversionary tactics.”

He appeared at yesterday’s service with Mr. Jackson and Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee of Texas; Rep. Kendrick B. Meek of Florida; Mr. Meek’s mother, former Rep. Carrie Meek; and the Rev. Al Sharpton, who campaigned against Mr. Kerry for the Democratic presidential nomination.

“He’s fighting against liars and demons,” Mrs. Meek said.

Mr. Sharpton said, “I believe in my heart that the future of this country and the future of this world, and the world in which we have come to believe, will rest in our ability to come out in big numbers and elect this man on November 2.”

Mr. Kerry told the congregation he is taking steps to allay the grievance of many Florida blacks that their votes were not counted in 2000.

“Never again will a million African-Americans be denied their right to exercise their vote in the United States of America,” he said.

Before attending the two-hour Baptist service, Mr. Kerry attended Mass and took Communion at St. James Catholic Church in North Miami, where the Rev. Jean Pierre, who recently returned from a hurricane relief mission in Haiti, urged support for “our neighbors to the South.”

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