Author and pastor Jay Bakker attends cookout against Amendment One
23. Apr, 2012 
0 Comments
Author and pastor Jay Bakker attended a cookout against the North Carolina Constitutional Amendment Friday afternoon at Area Fifteen. Bakker grew up in the Charlotte area and is now pastor at Revolution Church in New York City. Dozens turned out for hot dogs, hamburgers, and conversation. Many who had taken advantage of early voting wore “I Voted” stickers.
“People need to see that we support each other, and not just church people, but that we support each other as human beings,” said Bakker. “I really hope that fellow believers would get out there and love their neighbor as themselves and go vote.”
Bakker is the son of televangelists Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker whose PTL media empire and Heritage USA theme park were lost due to scandal. The effect the scandal and his return to faith are documented in Bakker’s autobiography Son of a Preacher Man and in the Sundance channel documentary One Punk Under God.
The constitutional amendment on the May 8th primary ballot would make heterosexual marriage the “only domestic legal union” valid in the state. North Carolina law already define marriage as being between one man and one woman, and a vote for or a vote against the proposed amendment would have no effect on that.
However, as opponents and legal experts point out, the wording of the proposed amendment could possibly cause children to lose health care coverage and remove protections for unmarried victims of domestic violence. “Amendments should never be about taking rights away. They should always be about adding rights,” said Bakker.
Local author James Langteaux, whose new book is titled, Gay Conversations with God, was on hand signing copies and talking to cookout attendees. Langteaux is a former senior producer for a Christian television network.
The event was organized by Steve Knight, a former Billy Graham staffer who is now a consultant for religious organizations. Also in attendance was Marc Gustafson, at large candidate for Mecklenburg County Commission. Bakker also spoke at an anti-amendment rally in Durham this weekend.
