Marriage Equality

It was just last week that we posted a collection of old Pat Robertson videos, but since he's making news once again by saying the tragic earthquake in Haiti stems from the fact that the nation once "swore a pact to the Devil," now seems like a good time to go back at take a look at some of Robertson's most outrageous statements from recent years:

• Robertson and Falwell lay the blame for 9/11.
• Robertson says Muslims should be treated like "some fascist group."
• Robertson says gays are on their way to hell.
• Robertson says hate crimes legislation would protect someone "who likes to have sex with ducks."
• Robertson says all other religions worship “demonic powers.”
• Robertson's advice to the GOP on handling the Rep. Mark Foley scandal: just say that it is "what gay people do so don’t worry about it."
• Robertson says marriage equality is "so gross" it will lead to the end of our nation.
• Robertson reports that God told him to expect massive terrorist attacks on the United States in 2007, and lists the specific cities at risk.
• Robertson declares that the separation of church and state is "insane."
• Robertson states that Ariel Sharon suffered a stroke because he was "dividing God's land."
• Robertson warned that President Bush was "asking for the wrath of God" for not adequately supporting Israel.
• Robertson explains that various natural disasters and weather events are God's way of sending a message.

Explain to me again why incoming Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell invited Robertson to attend his inauguration. Or why Rep. Michele Bachmann, whom Robertson lauds as a "marvelous public servant," is appearing on his program.

Not surprisingly, several Religious Right groups have filed briefs in the Proposition 8 lawsuit making the same basic arguments against marriage equality that they always make:  marriage is for procreation; bans on gay marriage are not discriminatory because men and women are still free to marry those of the opposite sex, etc...

The Family Research Council and the Thomas Moore Law Society filed a brief (PDF) that makes all of these claims and more, and also released a statement likening this case to Roe v. Wade, warning that a court decision will "only make the issue more volitile": 

"After major setbacks in Maine, New York, and New Jersey, advocates for same-sex 'marriage' are turning to their old standby: the courts. Homosexuals have failed at the ballot box, where the people have made their commitment to traditional marriage clear time after time. So now, proponents of same sex 'marriage' are attempting to sue their way to legitimacy in the courts of America.

"The marriage laws of all fifty states would be endangered should this lawsuit succeed. As with abortion, the Supreme Court's involvement would only make the issue more volatile. As such, it's time for the far Left to stop asking judges to redefine our most fundamental social institution.

"The plaintiffs are really asking for a wholesale recasting and redefinition of this vital human institution that has been the foundation of civilization's progress for millennia.

Whereas the FRC brief focused primarily on legal issues and filled with legal citations, the same cannot be said for the brief [PDF] filed by the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, which consists primarily of Biblical citations as it attempts to make the case that one-man, one-woman marriage is the only arrangement acceptable to God: 

Our love for God and our love for all people, not atavistic hatred of difference, motivates our opposition to all forms of non-marital sexual union, including between persons of the same sex. We believe that any sexual conduct outside the bond of marriage, the union of one man and one woman, is contrary to the will of God because God has designed marriage as the only appropriate context in which sexual relations should occur. Genesis 1:26-28; 2:18-25.

Engaging in sexual conduct outside the bond of marriage demeans the dignity of the individual, ignores God's full plan for marriage, and interferes with a person's relationship with God. Sexual activity within God's design is good. Hebrews 13:4. When one engages in sexual activity outside of God's design, that person demeans his or her dignity as God's creation in His image. Genesis 1:27; Romans 1:24-27; 1 Corinthians 6:18.

The Baptist Faith and Message affirms that marriage provides for a man and a woman "the framework for intimate companionship, the channel of sexual expression according to biblical standards, and the means for procreation of the human race." Article XVIII, "The Family." Genesis 1:26-28; 2:15-25; 3:1-20; Exodus 20:12; Deuteronomy 6:4-9; Proverb 22:6; Malachi 2:14-16; Matthew 19:3-9; Ephesians 5:21-33; 6:1-4; Colossians 3:18-21. Any sexual activity in which all of these fundamental purposes are not represented ignores God's design for marriage.

Our beliefs about marriage and human sexuality must also be understood in the context of our love for all people. Matthew 22:39. There is no authority in Biblical teachings for hatred of any people including those who identify as gay or lesbian. Of course, sinful behavior cannot be approved or promoted, but we believe that all people are sinners. Romans 3:23. There are many forms of sin, including dishonesty, gossip, lust, envy, jealousy, love of money, and all sexual impurity (sexual relations outside the marital union of a husband and wife). We invite all sinners (or in other words all people) to develop a relationship with Jesus Christ.

Southern Baptists must, and do, pray that all people, including those who experience same-sex attraction, come to know and love Jesus Christ and keep His commandments. We aspire to follow the example of Jesus Christ who loves all people and who extends the possibility of forgiveness and freedom from sin to all who seek Him.

In an article on Bishop Harry Jackson and his Stand4Marriage DC efforts to undo marriage equality in the District, Charisma reports that he is convening a meeting next week with dozens of other African-American ministers to lobby Congress and plot strategy:

Next week, Jackson will convene several dozen pastors to discuss strategies to prevent gay marriage from becoming law in Washington, D.C., and elsewhere in the U.S. The mostly African-American ministers also are expected to lobby Congress to protect DOMA, which has been challenged unsuccessfully in several recent lawsuits.

• Pam's House Blend reports that Oklahoma's Sally Kern is trying to make it harder to get divorced in her state.
• Good As You covers Mike Heath's recent appearance on Wallbuilders Radio.
• Richard Pombo is back and TMP provides a look back at his ethical troubles.
• Steve Benen notes that Michele Bachmann's anti-Census crusade could potentially end up costing her her seat in Congress.
• Joe.My.God takes great pleasure in the fact that Glenn Beck is at war with the Birthers.
• Towleroad reports that marriage equality in Iowa is safe, at least for this year.
• Finally, Alvin McEwen exposes the latest nonsense from Cliff Kincaid, who claims that the outcry over Uganda's anti-gay bill is all part of a conspiracy to save Kevin Jennings.

• Today, Washington DC Mayor Adrian Fenty signed the marriage equality legislation into law.
• Box Turtle Bulletin: Kalamazoo churches don't want to be seen with tolerant Christians.
• David Neiwert: Bennett compares climate-change science to Nazi medicine, debate to Hitler's persecutions.
• Think Progress: Sarah Palin is booted from her scheduled speech at a Canadian hospital fundraiser.
• TPM: Lawyer From Far-Right Group Picked For Key Legal-Aid Post.
• Good As You is not impressed with the Liberty Counsel's list of "victories" this year.
• Finally, Steve Benen on "Bill Kristol, Public Safety Advocate."

Earlier this year, GOProud, a new gay conservative group, appeared on the scene intent on finding ways to sell the conservative agenda to gays. 

Their approach has been to eschew the "traditional" gay issues like hate crimes protections or the Employment Non-Discrimination Act in favor arguing that healthcare reform would be bad for gays, that "the inheritance tax is really a gay tax," or claiming that the best way to stop hate crimes is to expand gun ownership.

But GOProud does also support things like marriage equality and the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell ... and for that reason the Religious Right's professional anti-gay activists at Americans for Truth and the Liberty Counsel are now threatening to boycott the annual CPAC conference if GOProud is allowed to serve as an official co-sponsor:

Folks, for years religious conservatives have been complaining about getting the shaft from CPAC, the annual Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C. There is usually only a token panel or two dealing with “Culture War” social issues like abortion and homosexuality (and rarely one explicitly on fighting the “gay” agenda) – as organizers seek to appease the CPAC libertarians, some of whom support goals like homosexual “marriage” that are anathema to socially conservatives.

Now CPAC’s tenuous ”Big Tent” could collapse altogether as social conservatives led by Liberty Counsel’s Matt Barber threaten to launch a boycott of the conference (scheduled for Feb. 18-20, 2010) unless CPAC drops a homosexual activist group, GOProud, as a co-sponsor. Barber, my good friend, an AFTAH Board Member, and the Director of Cultural Affairs at Liberty Counsel, is leading the charge to keep the CPAC sponsorship list … conservative.

...

It boils down to this: there is nothing “conservative” about — as Barber inimitably puts it — “one man violently cramming his penis into another man’s lower intestine and calling it ‘love.’” Or two women awkwardly mimicking natural procreative relations or raising a child together in an intentionally fatherless home. This does not mean that people practicing those and other immoral (and changeable) behaviors cannot think and act conservatively on other issues like lowering taxes, cutting government spending, ending abortion, etc. But let’s be honest: the “proud” in GOProud is not about pride in opposing the death tax, or defending the right to bear arms; it’s about proudly embracing sinful homosexual behavior – and that is hardly a conservative value.

I challenge every thinking conservative to explain why we should jettison our nation’s Judeo-Christian heritage (which clearly rejects homosexual acts as immoral) for some new, secularized brand of “conservatism” that fails to conserve natural, normal, and noble sex within God-ordained marriage. Where does the expansion of “conservatism” stop? Would CPAC welcome “Republicans for Abortion” as a co-sponsor? How about “Conservatives For Higher Taxes”? We doubt it. So let’s stop the double-standard on one issue — homosexuality — that happens to be politically incorrect in this decadent age.

The American Family Association is also voicing its opposition:

Bryan Fischer is director of issues analysis for the American Family Association and host of the radio program Focal Point with Bryan Fischer. He says CPAC chairman David Keene and CPAC organizers have a serious problem on their hands.

"The bottom line is that homosexuality is not a conservative value," Fischer states emphatically. "There are any number of co-sponsoring organizations that I believe are going to have a real problem with the fact that they are giving such a prominent place to an organization which is such an active proponent of gay rights."

"And it's GOProud, they're identifying themselves with the Republican Party...and yet their legislative agenda is directly contrary to the platform of the Republican Party."

As I wrote last year, though there is significant overlap, those who attend the CPAC conference have distinctly different priorities from those who attend the strictly Religious Right conferences like the Values Voter Summit.

It'll be interesting to see how CPAC organizers managed to handle this controversy.  I'm guessing that GOProud will eventually "voluntarily" withdraw their sponsorship.

• The National Organization For Marriage declares war after the DC Council passes marriage equality legislation while Bishop Harry Jackson says they have an "airtight legal case" for getting the issue put to a vote.
• The Tulsa Word remembers Oral Roberts, who passed away today at the age of 91.
• Janet Porter is trying to get a movie made about herself.  Seriously.
• Mat Staver says that the custody fight between Janet Jenkins and Lisa Miller is nothing more than an effort to claim a "political trophy [for] the homosexual agenda."
• Ralph Reed's Faith and Freedom Coalition announces that it is launching a "campaign to defeat [the] health care bill in U.S. Senate."
• Finally, the Christian Defense Coalition held a "pray-in" at Senator Robert Casey's office this afternoon to let him know that he "cannot make the claim that [he is] pro-life" if he votes for cloture on the healthcare reform legislation.

• Watch Rachel Maddow demolish "ex-gay" therapist Richard Cohen.
• On a related note, it looks like Ugana is backing off a bit on its "kill the gays" bill.
• Mother Jones: The Religious Right's Potty Paranoia.
• Think Progress: How The Right-Wing Noise Machine Manufactured ‘Climategate.’
• Just so you know, the House GOP approves of Christmas.
• Bruce Springsteen supports marriage equality in New Jersey.
• Michael Steele cannot be bothered with your petty questions.
• Rep. Steve King discovers the vast ACORN conspiracy!
• Finally, a good quote from Kevin Drum: There are times when I feel that I'm pretty inured to political opportunism and duplicitousness. But railing against any kind of government interference in the health industry as death panels and socialism, and then turning around and suggesting we take advantage of the benefits of an actual socialist healthcare system really takes the cake.

Bishop Harry Jackson, the man behind the effort to prevent gay marriage from coming to Washington DC, has long attempted to present himself as moderate and fair-minded while he battled the "satanic" gay agenda. 

But every once in a while the mask slips and we get a glimpse of Jackson the holy warrior - that is when we find him doing things like telling Dan Gilgoff that marriage equality in DC is going to lead to a "bloodletting" and right-wing activism like we have never seen before: 

We're going to have to start earlier and take straw polls earlier. Our opposition had been working with these [council members] for five years. They'd invested time and money, and, to their credit, my opposition applied extreme political pressure on 30 or 40 people in the city, in the mayor's office and the city council.

But they have not changed ordinary people's opinions. It's a faux change. For instance, they created a gay organization of clergy. Our side has done the opposite, mobilizing a grass-roots effort with 1,200 churches in D.C.

In future races, religious people are going to start going after people's political careers. In D.C., some very vulnerable black councilmen went along with the city council, and some of these guys will not be sitting in those chairs in 2010 elections. Many in our coalition are wising up, looking for candidates. Political action committees are going to be formed. You're going to see a bloodletting that is going to mark a new style of engagement for people who are against same-sex marriage.