“I have been a unionist for 41 years and my work is easily found all over the Web under the ‘Michael Westfall Papers.’ My labor papers are archived in the University of Michigan library, and I was the one who brought legendary UAW leader Victor Reuther to Flint for the 50th Anniversary Rally of the UAW in 1987. Would (Michigan AFL-CIO President Mark) Gaffney suggest that I was anti-labor because I belong to the (American Family Association)? The AFA position (supporting one-man, one-woman marriage) is not an anti-labor stand. Nothing could be further from the truth. It is a pro-worker, pro-family and pro-America stand.”
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Focus on the Family:

Digging around the Web site of “Pride At Work” reveals a blatant activism.
http://www.family.org/cforum/feature/a0036771.cfm

“Are You A Proud Union Queer?” the site asks. “Thinking about getting inked? Well before you take the plunge, maybe you should take a second and try one of Pride At Work’s new temporary tattoos, just in time for Gay Pride! The message is simple, ‘PROUD UNION QUEER.’”

Agape Press: http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/6/afa/32005a.asp

A broad coalition of religious and family values organizations went toe-to-toe with Big Labor this week, demanding in a letter to American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Unions (AFL-CIO) president John Sweeney that union officials rescind a recent resolution supporting homosexual “marriage.”

Related Sites:
http://unionworkersagainstgaymarriage.com/

AFL-CIO resolution
http://www.aflcio.org/aboutaflcio/ecouncil/ec03032005g.cfm

The letter sent to AFL-CIO President John Sweeney
http://www.afa.net/pdfs/lettertoaflcio.pdf

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“A former local United Auto Workers activist, known for his sometimes-maverick views and hard-line stance against General Motors, is among a handful of Michigan residents joining a drive to oppose the AFL-CIO’s support of gay rights. Michael Westfall, a retired truck driver and member of UAW Local 598, is one of three state residents who have signed a national petition…urg(ing) the union to rescind its opposition to a federal constitutional amendment defining marriage as between one man and one woman. …Westfall, 59, now finds himself aligned with state Sen. Mike Goschka, R-Saginaw, and Gary Glenn, Michigan president of the American Family Association in signing the petition against the AFL-CIO. …’I'm not anti-union, but the union doesn’t come first,’ Westfall said. ‘With Christians, Christ and the Bible come first.’”

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Please follow Paul Weyrich’s example by publishing your own commentary to help educate pro-family union members about the AFL-CIO’s homosexual “marriage” resolution.

“(AFL-CIO President John) Sweeney made a miscalculation which could cost him the election. Approximately 44 pro-family organizations sent a letter to Sweeney asking him to reverse the AFL-CIO position on the Federal Marriage Amendment and the various state marriage amendments. In an unreported move, Sweeney formed a coalition with Gays and Lesbians and had the AFL-CIO Executive Committee approve a resolution against traditional marriage. …The pro-family groups told Sweeney that they would do everything possible to see that rank and file union workers knew about this resolution before the AFL-CIO Annual Convention in Chicago in July. …(I)f enough AFL-CIO members learn about the anti-traditional marriage resolution, they may cast their lot with the dissidents. It could determine whether Sweeney keeps his job.”
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WORLD NET DAILY
June 18, 2005

Pro-family groups take on Big Labor Demanding AFL-CIO drop resolution backing same-sex marriage

The groups sent a letter to AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, asserting the resolution threatens the rights of workers who support traditional marriage and families, reported Agape Press.

The AFL-CIO Executive Committee’s March 3 resolution, which labor officials unanimously adopted, opposes federal and state constitutional amendments to define marriage exclusively as a union between a man and a woman.

The resolution reiterates the AFL-CIO’s “longstanding support for the full inclusion and equal rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in the workplace and society.”

The Executive Committee says a federal Marriage Protection Amendment and its state counterparts “threaten the rights of working people by creating an environment across the nation that is hostile to the rights of domestic partners, regardless of their sexual orientation.”

But the coalition of pro-family leaders contends it’s the AFL-CIO that is threatening the rights of its workers who support traditional marriage and families.
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Pastor, union worker takes gay marriage opposition online
by Tammie Brewer, Brookhaven Daily Leader

A local pastor and union worker, striking back at the AFL-CIO’s opposition to a federal amendment that would define marriage as a union between a man and a woman, has launched a Web site to further his cause.

The Rev. Kendall Boutwell, 41, who leads a Brookhaven church and also works at Georgia Pacific in Monticello, created www.unionworkersagainstgaymarriage.com to enlist support against the president and executive council of the AFL-CIO, which in March announced its opposition to a federal marriage amendment.

The AFL-CIO is an umbrella organization for nearly 60 American labor unions comprising more than 13 million dues-paying workers, said Boutwell, who is a member of United Stell Workers Local 371.

“We hereby declare that MARRIAGE is the union of one man to one woman, and we do not support legal recognition of same-sex marriage or same-sex civil unions. WE SUPPORT THE FEDERAL MARRIAGE AMENDMENT!” an announcement on Boutwell’s Web site states.

“The AFL-CIO didn’t ask the unions what they thought,” Boutwell said, so he and other union workers at Georgia Pacific decided to make a stand against gay marriage.

“Only 1 to 2 percent of the population wants gay marriages,” Boutwell said, “not the other 98 percent.”
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CYBERCAST NEWS
Washington, D.C.
June 13, 2005

AFL-CIO Urged to Halt Support of “Proud Union Queers”
by Randy Hall
CNSNews.com Staff Writer/Editor

CNS NEWS — Leaders of more than three dozen family-oriented organizations have sent a letter to AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, urging him and his federation to rescind its support of same-sex marriage and stop using members’ dues to advance the agendas of homosexual and transgender activists, including one group that calls its members “proud union queers.”
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ROLL CALL
Washington, D.C.
June 13, 2005

Another Marriage Battle
by Luke Mullins and Tory Newmyer,
Roll Call Staff

An AFL-CIO executive committee resolution opposing the Federal Marriage Amendment was attacked this week by a broad coalition of religious and traditional-values organizations.

In a letter to AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, more than three dozen state and national organizations — including the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, Catholic Vote, the Coalition of African American Pastors and Christian television and radio networks — implored union officials to rescind their opposition to the FMA at the labor group’s annual convention, which will be held July 25-28 in Chicago.
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