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IT’S TIME FOR JUDGES TO RECONNECT WITH REALITY ON MARRIAGE
Yesterday, a California Court ignored the will of the people as a
judge struck down a proposition defining marriage as between and man
and a woman. This was done despite the approval of the proposition
in 2000 by 61% of California voters.
Larry Jacobs, vice president of the Howard Center for Family,
Religion and Society, noted the courts reflect a serious disconnect
between courts and the public on the crucial matter of marriage.
“Threats to family stability from divorce, promiscuity and working
parents have never been more serious. This is not the time to be
venturing into misguided social experiments with marriage.”
“Almost every opinion poll on the subject shows the American
people support traditional marriage by lopsided margins. In every
state where it’s gone to a vote, natural marriage has passed by
landslide majorities – including such bastions of liberalism as
California and Hawaii,” Jacobs disclosed.
In November of 2004, the following states had marriage amendments
approved by voters: Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, Montana,
Mississippi, Ohio, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon and Utah. In Ohio,
Michigan and Montana, amendments passed by votes of 61% to 66%.
Except for Oregon, in all of the other states, amendments were
approved by votes of 73% to 85%. The closest vote was in Oregon. Gay
activists, who poured resources and volunteers into the state,
considered it their one chance to stop the juggernaut. Nonetheless,
the Oregon amendment was approved by a 56% vote.
“As Associate Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia pointed out in
an address at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, some things
are too fundamental to be left to the determination of judges.
Whether the millennia-old definition of marriage will be changed
surely is one of those things.”
Jacobs noted that when there’s this wide a gap between popular
opinion and elite opinion, something has to give. “Usually it
foreshadows a political revolution – like the takeover of the House
of Representatives in 1994. Those who oppose the natural family are
on the wrong side of history and thus are in danger of being swept
away by the coming tide.”
Pro-family leaders are gathering today at a 1:30pm press
conference at the National Press Club in Washington, DC to show
support for traditional marriage and present a plan of action called
The Natural Family: A Manifesto. “This Manifesto is intended to
serve as the catalyst for a revival to restore family and faith as
guides to our lives,” declared Jacobs. |