Prominent black clergy, including the Rev. Al Sharpton, are encouraging American black voters to consider Maryland's November ballot referendum on same-sex marriage as a civil rights issue, as opposed to a religious or political issue.

Dozens of black clergy leaders gathered for a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington D.C., on Friday, Sept. 21 to discuss the same-sex marriage referendum. The press conference was headed by the Rev. Delman Coates, the senior pastor of Mt. Ennon Baptist Church in Prince George's County, Md.

"In a real sense, this is about preserving our democracy. We cannot as a nation spend billions of dollars every week to export freedom abroad, and then enact laws that deny freedom of fellow Americans here at home. That is not right," Coates said about the legalization of same-sex marriage in Maryland, according to The Washington Post.