9/29/2008 - Orlando, FL - Jeff Kunerth | Sentinel Staff Writer
Inside the Amway Arena, a voice over the public-address system announced that the next two people to buy upper-bowl tickets to the Orlando Magic would get a basketball autographed by Hedo Turkoglu.
Meanwhile, outside the facility, protesters chanted, "The billionaire's a bonehead. The billionaire's a bonehead."
Professional sports and political street theater intersected Sunday as opponents of a proposed amendment to the Florida Constitution vented their wrath on Magic owner Rich DeVos on the day season-ticket holders were selecting their seats.
The protesters were calling attention to DeVos' contribution of $100,000 to Florida4Marriage, a group that supports Amendment 2, which would add the existing ban on gay marriage to the state constitution. Opponents say the measure could also deny domestic-partnership benefits for unmarried couples -- gay and straight.
"He's the biggest contributor to the amendment from Orlando," said Jennifer Foster, who helped organize the protest, which drew about 30 people. "And he's getting $1 billion in taxpayers' money to build the arena. That sends a bad message."
DeVos was unavailable for comment.
The "Marriage Protection Amendment" on the Nov. 4 ballot states that, "Inasmuch as marriage is the legal union of only one man and one woman as husband and wife, no other legal union that is treated as marriage or the substantial equivalent thereof shall be valid or recognized."
"If this was just about gay marriage, it would have stopped at one man and one woman," Foster said. "They overreach into domestic partnerships."
The protest was organized to take advantage of the foot traffic from the season-ticket holders, but the protesters were relegated to a spot across the street where their chanting and signs went largely unnoticed. Inside the arena, Hector Colon and his wife, Lymari Negron, were sitting in lower-bowl seats. The seats were great, but at $1,530 each, the couple decided the price was too high.
Colon and Negron are among the voters both proponents and foes of Amendment 2 want to win over. The couple think God meant marriage for a man and a woman. Yet they have friends, relatives and co-workers who are not married but need or want domestic-partnership benefits.
"The problem with these amendments is the wording is not easy to understand," Colon said. "This is something I have to analyze."
Jeff Kunerth can be reached at jkunerth@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5392.
