Not on My Watch – 1,000 Gather for Arlington Rally

African-American pastors part of the “Not On My Watch” Committee hosted a rally at the Arlington City Hall in Texas on May 22, calling for a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriages. The event was attended by 1,000 people, which included representatives from Promise Keepers, an international men’s ministry that organized the event.

The Committee, formed six weeks ago, also denounced the parallels homosexual advocates are making to compare their plight to that of the civil rights movement.

"The church cannot allow the gay rights movement to hitch itself to the civil rights movement," the Rev. William Dwight McKissic, one of the coalition's founders told NBC News Channel 4 based in Arlington, Texas. "It is insulting, offensive and racist. It is to compare my skin with their sin."

"We've taken the blow of cohabitation. We've taken the blow of divorce. We've taken the blow of absentee fathers," said the Rev. Bryan Carter, pastor of Concord Missionary Baptist Church in Dallas. "Homosexual marriage could be the knockout blow."

The group asked attendees to sign a petition asking lawmakers for a constitutional amendment that would define marriage as being between a man and a woman.

In a statement released earlier, President of Promise Keepers Dr. Tomas Fortson has referred to the committee’s support for the marriage to be between one man and one woman as part of “carrying out the Christian obligation to shepherd the flock and point the way.”