REP. MARILYN MUSGRAVE DEFENDS FMA: From Roll Call

[You have to be a subscriber to read the whole thing, so I'm excerpting more than usual.]

...In fact, to date, not one single state has legislatively enacted gay marriage. There is no public outcry to redefine marriage.

However, we see four Supreme Court justices in Massachusetts forcing a redefinition on their body politic and forcing the rest of the nation to take notice. Since the action of this court, local officials in various states (even states with DOMAs) are blatantly ignoring the rule of law and being disrespectful of the legislative process.

Even in the three states where the legislatures have enacted statutes giving formal recognition to same-sex unions, there was no push to redefine the institution of marriage. Indeed, the entire purpose of these statutes is to avoid such a redefinition.

In Hawaii and Alaska, the people of those respective states rose up and, by a vote of more than 60 percent, amended their state constitutions to protect marriage. In fact, in every state in which the definition of marriage has been put to a direct vote of the people, anywhere from 60 percent to 70 percent voted to preserve traditional marriage.

But activist courts are ignoring the rule of law and their duty to uphold the separation of powers doctrine. They are making a mockery of tradition and longstanding social practice.

As a former state legislator, I respect state lawmaking. States generally deserve more, not less, power to make law. However, in this case, without effective Congressional action, we will be leaving local lawmakers with no options to preserve what every state clearly wants as their law. State and federal activist judges will not stop until a national marriage definition is legislated from the bench. ...

First, the bill solidifies marriage as a union between one man and one woman. This is a position supported by the American people by 2-to-1.

Furthermore, under the Federal Marriage Amendment, voters and their elected state officials will continue to have (as they always have) the power to determine for themselves whether, and to what extent, relationships between same-sex couples should be formally recognized in statute. The Federal Marriage Amendment expressly allows the designation of the "legal incidences" of marriage to state lawmakers. Inheritance, hospital visitation and other similar issues are best determined at the local level.

Lastly, my proposed amendment protects states that choose not to recognize these arrangements from being forced to do so by the courts.

more, if you subscribe
posted by Eve at 5:29 PM | link

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home