NOM BLOG

National Organization for Marriage Urges Delaware Senate to Reject Legislation Redefining Marriage

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 24, 2013
Contact: Elizabeth Ray or Jen Campbell (703-683-5004)


National Organization for Marriage

"Marriage is intrinsically the union of one man and woman; attempting to redefine it will strip the institution of its meaning, harm children and open people of faith to real consequences." — Brian Brown, NOM president —

Washington, D.C. — The National Organization for Marriage (NOM) today urged the Delaware Senate to defeat legislation that would redefine marriage. The House narrowly passed HB 75 yesterday, sending the measure to the Senate.

"The passage of HB 75 by the Delaware House was expected, though the vote was closer than many anticipated. It's now up to the upper chamber to exercise restraint and preserve the institution of marriage," said Brian Brown NOM's president. "Marriage is intrinsically the union of one man and woman; attempting to redefine it will strip the institution of its meaning, harm children and open people of faith to real consequences."

The Delaware legislation makes marriage genderless so that people of the same sex can be 'married' under the law. As such HB 75 shifts the purpose of marriage away from bringing men and women together to provide mothers and fathers for children, and instead changes the institution into state recognition of romantic relationships.

"The only reason that Delaware or any other state has any business being involved in licensing marriages is the interest of children," Brown said. "The state has a profound interest in children, both to encourage couples to have children so that society can be propagated, and to ensure that those children have the best opportunity to be raised by a mother and a father. So-called same-sex 'marriage' severs the interests of children from our marriage laws, and says that marriage exists to provide emotional satisfaction to adults. That is a very bad step for America's first state to take."

NOM said that while the legislation purports to protect people of faith from lawsuits for refusing to recognize same-sex unions as marriages, the bill fails to include meaningful religious liberty protections.

"This bill redefines marriage for everyone in Delaware," Brown said. "Every marriage will now be genderless. That means that anyone who cannot accept this radical and flawed change to marriage is going to be subjected to punishment. HB 75 contains no meaningful protections for people who have deeply held beliefs that marriage is and can only be the union of one man and one woman. We can expect religious groups and nonprofits along with small businesses and individuals to face consequences. These have included government fines, lawsuits, denials of contracts and government services, and stripping nonprofits of their tax exemption, among other consequences. Religious charities have been forced to abandon their service mission because they can no longer maintain fidelity to their beliefs while accepting genderless marriage. State Senators need to realize that these are the consequences they are imposing on its citizens, especially people of faith, if they vote to redefine marriage. We urge them to preserve marriage and reject redefining this most important institution."

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To schedule an interview with Brian Brown, president of the National Organization for Marriage, please contact Elizabeth Ray (x130), [email protected], or Jen Campbell (x145), [email protected], at 703-683-5004.

Paid for by The National Organization for Marriage, Brian Brown, president. 2029 K Street NW,
Suite 300 Washington, DC 20006, not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.
New § 68A.405(1)(f) & (h).

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