WASHINGTON — The head of a national black ministers group yesterday blasted President Obama over his support of gay marriage, urging black voters to withhold their support unless the president changes his stance.
“Mr. President, I’m not going to stand with you, and there are thousands across this country that are not going to stand with you,” the Rev. William Owens, president of the 3,700-member Coalition of African-American Pastors, warned at a DC press conference.
Joined by ministers from around the nation, Owens said Obama has done too little on issues that matter most to black voters, from education to high incarceration rates.
“The president has ignored the black community because he feels that he has us in his pocket. We’re not in his pocket,” Owens added. “We refuse to give him a pass.”
Bishop Janice Hollis, presiding prelate of the Covenant International Fellowship of Churches in Pennsylvania, said she will work to make Obama’s gay marriage position known to voters.
“We know that this position is a political one, and we are offended,” she said.
The warnings come as the Obama campaign struggles to keep African-American turnout high in the November election.
The National Urban League recently said Obama may have a difficult time in swing states if black voter turnout falls even 5 percentage points south of the record-level vote in 2008.