Marriage Equality Foes Speak Out
As expected, not all of the responses to Friday’s marriage rquality victory in New York were positive. In addition to the National Organization for Marriage’s outspoken reactions, other opponents of LGBT rights were equally troubled by the state’s late-night vote.
Archbishop Timothy Dolan (pictured) and the Catholic Church in New York were among the most vocal locals in opposition. Dolan, who had very publicly urged legislators to vote against the bill, said its passage will alter “radically and forever humanity’s historic understanding of marriage” and released a statement saying:
“We strongly uphold the Catholic Church’s clear teaching that we always treat our homosexual brothers and sisters with respect, dignity, and love. But we just as strongly affirm that marriage is the joining of one man and one woman in a lifelong, loving union that is open to children, ordered for the good of those children and the spouses themselves. This definition cannot change, though we realize that our beliefs about the nature of marriage will continue to be ridiculed, and that some will even now attempt to enact government sanctions against churches and religious organizations that preach these timeless truths.”
Another religious leader, the Reverend Jason McGuire, executive director of the evangelical Christian group New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms, issued his own statement, saying:“Despite today’s vote, the people of New York recognize that marriage provides a strong foundation for a thriving society. State senators who have chosen to pursue their own agenda or the agenda of liberal activist groups are ignoring the 62 percent of Americans who believe marriage is one man, one woman, nothing else.”
The Family Research Council, meanwhile, implied on its blog that legislators who voted in favor of the measure had been bribed:
“Enormous political coercion has resulted in a profound failure of moral courage in the New York Senate. A clear majority of the people of New York oppose counterfeit ‘marriage,’ but Gov. Cuomo and anti-family lawmakers have shown that their allegiance is to a small but vocal minority seeking to redefine marriage and family. … As we go forward there is little doubt that the ‘incentives’ some taxpayer funded, used to sway votes, especially Republican ones, will be exposed.”
Mike Macalusco, the head of a group calling itself Citizens for a Decent Community, labeled gay marriage “a total collapse of morality in New York State” and said the hard-fought amendments intending to protect religious institutions were “baloney.”
On the road with a Tea Party bus tour, former House speaker Newt Gingrich also expressed his dissatisfaction with the vote. “I think we are drifting towards a terrible muddle which I think is going to be very, very difficult and painful to work our way out of,” he told Iowa reporters on Saturday.
