Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse of the Ruth Institute picks apart the incoherent position on marriage espoused by the Libertarian Party of Minnesota.
A sample:
We believe that marriage is a fundamental human right, How can you believe that, if you don’t know what marriage is, or why we need it in the first place? The essential public purpose of marriage is to attach mothers and fathers to their children and to one another. Marriage exists to protect the legitimate interests of children, who cannot protect their own interests. Without this public purpose, we wouldn’t need marriage at all. And that is why marriage is more than a collection of individuals, and why family law is not simply a subset of property and contract law. Alas, poor libertarians: they don’t know how to think without a contract metaphor.
The AP on the harsh reaction RI House Speaker Gordon Fox is provoking among his former supporters:
The protests started as soon as Rhode Island House Speaker Gordon Fox sounded the death knell for gay marriage legislation and said he'd back civil unions instead. A cop-out, gay marriage supporters said. A compromise for no one. One man made a sign proclaiming, "Fox Hunting Season is Open."
... "In my opinion he's a self-loathing homophobe," said Gary D'Amario of Cranston, who attended a rally at the Statehouse called after Fox made his decision.
As Governor Cuomo and NY Mayor Bloomberg try to convince Republicans to vote for SSM the Conservative Party is running this ad reminding politicians that there is a price to be paid for supporting the redefinition of marriage (click on the image for a larger version):
We’ve just received word that the decisive vote could come as early as this afternoon in the Minnesota House of Representatives, allowing the voters of Minnesota to preserve marriage as the union of a man and a woman. Voters in 31 other states have already been able to vote on the definition of marriage, and Minnesota voters want the same right. Surveys show that 74% of voters want the ability to decide the marriage issue themselves.
Gay marriage advocates are mounting a furious last-minute assault on Republican legislators in an effort to cow them into delaying the vote authorizing the marriage amendment until sometime next year. They are rallying supporters all around the country to contact Minnesota legislators asking them to stop the marriage amendment.
Here's what I need you to do:
First and foremost, if you live in Minnesota, contact your legislators immediately! Republican legislators especially need to hear from you! We've set up an action alert so that you can easily send your message to your own state representative, with a copy going to every member of the Republican Caucus in the House. Even if you've contacted your representative already, please send another email today reminding them how urgent this is. Click here to send your message urging them to let the people vote!
Remind them that legislators are not being asked to cast a vote on same-sex marriage, they are being asked to let the people decide! And let them know that any vote to postpone or block the vote will be considered a vote against the amendment.
Even if you do not live in Minnesota, I need you to get involved by sending this message to anyone you know who lives in Minnesota, with a message letting them know that we urgently need their help. We need to counter the thousands of email messages coming in from same-sex marriage supporters all around the country, and can only do it with your help.
Finally, we are calling for Minnesotans of all walks of life to come together at the Capitol tomorrow morning, urging legislators to let the people vote. We’ll be meeting in front of the House chambers (on the 2nd floor) at 10:30am. Opponents are planning to pack the Capitol, and your legislators need to see and hear from you as they prepare to vote! I know it’s short notice, but if you can drop everything and come to the Capitol tomorrow morning, please do it! And bring signs that say "Let the People Vote!"
Minnesota State Capitol
10:30am, Thursday, May 19th
75 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
St. Paul, Minnesota 55155
Please act right away. This issue could be taken up by the House of Representatives as early as this afternoon. We urgently need thousands of our supporters to email Republican legislators in Minnesota right away. Please click here to take action right now!
D. C. Innes was at Sunday's massive Diaz Rally and writes:
On Sunday I attended a rally opposing New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s plan to make same-sex marriage legal in New York State before the end of the current legislative session, which adjourns a few weeks from now. The last time it came up for a vote in 2009, it failed 24-38 in the Senate. Cuomo is the third Democratic governor in a row to try.
But this was not a Tea Party rally on Long Island. It was in the Bronx. The New York Hispanic Clergy Association sponsored it. And Democratic State Sen. Ruben Diaz Sr., who is also a Pentecostal minister, led the rally. Most of the English spoken that day was translated from Spanish.
Former U.S. District Court Chief Judge Vaughn Walker doesn’t want to appear in court next month, when his successor tackles the question of whether Walker’s 10-year relationship with a man should be cause for vacating Walker’s decision to strike down Proposition 8.
Current U.S. District Court Chief Judge James Ware ordered Walker to appear in the San Francisco federal court June 13, to answer why he shouldn’t be required to turn over videotapes of last year’s historic trial challenging California’s ban on same-sex marriages.
... As of Tuesday, May 17, Judge Ware had not indicated whether Walker would be relieved of the order to appear.
Daniel Leddy notes how Democrats have abruptly changed their story on marriage in recent years:
... Among the prominent Democrats supporting DOMA were then-Senator and now Vice-President Joseph Biden, and Patrick Leahy, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Today, however, a mere five years later, the Democrats are singing a very different tune. Not only are they stumbling over themselves to repudiate DOMA, but the same Sen. Leahy is co-sponsoring a bill to repeal it.
Leddy also talks about some of the serious consequences of redefining marriage:
On July 6, 2006, New York’s highest court specifically rejected an equal protection challenge to New York’s marriage laws, holding instead that there is a rational basis for the state to define marriage as a union between one man and one woman.
Next, when confronted with the inevitable “what’s the real harm?” argument, the Senate’s response should be this: A hornet’s nest of unintended consequences.
For instance, if marital status is conferred on same-sex couples, they are certain to initiate lawsuits against religious organizations that do not fully accommodate them.
Such legal actions could proceed under at least one section of New York’s Civil Rights Law and three sections of the state’s Executive Law.
Their likely result would be to present religious organizations with two horrible choices: Either surrender their deeply held beliefs and capitulate to the government, or sustain penalties ranging from being denied the use of public facilities to losing their tax-exempt status.
The fate of marriage in this state is an extremely serious issue.
The New York Times helpfully points out this morning: "But his pledge might not make every Republican swoon. A Bloomberg political blessing isn’t quite as golden as a Bloomberg bank book. In 2008, he endorsed six Republican candidates for the State Senate. Four of them lost."
The Rules Committee of the Minnesota House has narrowly approved a floor vote on the constitutional gay marriage amendment.
The committee voted 13-12 Wednesday to put the issue before the full House. The committee's Republican majority voted in favor, with one defection from Rep. Tim Kelly of Red Wing.
Next stop: a floor vote on Thursday.
The MN Senate passed the same bill by a 38-27 vote last week.
SSM advocates are starting to blame Gov. Cuomo for not pushing harder for SSM, meanwhile Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos now says he may not put SSM up for a vote, and instead will discuss it with his conference first. And the votes still aren't there...
By the end of yesterday, none of the missing votes [for SSM] had yet materialized. And with only 14 days left in the legislative session, one Democratic Senate insider acknowledged that passing a gay marriage bill may not end up viewed with the same time pressure as renewing rent regulations, which must be completed by June 15. --City Hall
Also, Mayor Bloomberg makes it clear he won't necessarily refuse to support Republicans who vote no:
And although Mayor Bloomberg promised to financially support Republicans who vote in favor, he also said he wouldn’t categorically withdraw support from those who voted no.
“In the real world, you can’t pick one issue and say it’s all or nothing,” Bloomberg said.
The NOM video team was in the Bronx this weekend and put together this awesome video featuring our own Brian Brown, Rev. Ruben Diaz and thousands of supporters (some of whom we got a chance to interview):
Mr. Bloomberg told reporters that he believed the Senate should hold an up-or-down vote on same-sex marriage, a position that seemed to conflict with that of Mr. Cuomo, who has said he will not introduce legislation to allow gay couples to wed until he is sure it has enough votes to pass.
In response to Mayor Bloomberg's promise to fund any GOP candidate who (ignoring his constituents) votes for SSM, NOM's Maggie Gallagher said this in the Times:
“The Republican base is incredibly united on this issue ... It’s a really bad idea to be for gay marriage if you’re a Republican, and I don’t think Mayor Bloomberg’s money is going to change that.”
NOM's internal polls show about 1 percent of New Yorkers agree. When pols get this out of touch with the people there are consequences. This is a naked attempt by powerful rich men to buy a legislature while campaigning for "ethics reform."
