Same-Sex Marriage Not the 'End of the World,' Federal Judge Says

by Allie Martin, Fred Jackson, and Jody Brown
May 14, 2004

(AgapePress) - Christian law firms have lost their last-minute effort to block homosexual "marriage" in Massachusetts. An attorney for one of those firms is describing a judge's denial of a request to stop the scheduled legalization of same-sex marriage as a "dark day for America."

On Thursday, a federal judge in Boston denied the request by several pro-family legal groups to block marriage licenses from being issued to homosexual couples starting Monday. In their federal lawsuit, Liberty Counsel, the Catholic Action League, the American Family Association, and the Thomas More Law Center allege that the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) violated the U.S. Constitution's guarantee of a republican form of government when it redefined marriage to include same-sex individuals.

But a lawyer for the SJC responded that the issues "are pure questions of state law" and the federal government has no jurisdiction. The judge said the plaintiffs made it sound as if homosexual marriage would "be the end of the world." He added, "It hasn't been."

Steve Crampton, chief counsel for the American Family Association Center for Law & Policy (CLP), says the judge's decision is an insult to the biblical idea of marriage.

"The institution of marriage is God's very first social institution. This attack is as much an attack upon God and His created social order as it is upon Americans and conservatism," the attorney says. "So we are still looking to Him who is, after all, the author and finisher of our salvation, to rise up and take action at a time like this."

Brian Fahling, the CLP's senior trial attorney, said the federal court's refusal to find a constitutional violation in the case "amounts to an enshrinement of the anti-democratic principle that judges are a law unto themselves."

Continuing, Fahling said "it is impossible to overstate the tragic and historic dimension of what is happening in our nation. Same-sex [sexual relations], once universally condemned and criminalized, is elevated to the status of a constitutional right and then included in the definition of marriage."

The attorney says this has all been "ushered in and shoved down our throats" by judges and mayors he describes as being "utterly and brazenly lawless."

"We have passed through the cultural Looking Glass with Alice," Fahling states. "Up is down, and wrong is right."

But the CLP and its fellow plaintiffs are not tossing in the towel just yet. They say they will take their case to a federal appeals court.

Bible-Based Debate?
Meanwhile, a congressional hearing on a Federal Marriage Amendment protecting traditional marriage has included a discussion on what the Bible says about the matter. Both supporters and those who oppose the amendment referenced scripture during the debate.

The sponsor of the FMA, Congresswoman Marilyn Musgrave of Colorado, noted during Thursday's hearing that the Declaration of Independence bases Americans' rights on "their Creator."

"The self-evident differences and complimentary design of men and women are part of that created order," Musgrave said. "We are created as male and female -- and for this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined with his wife, and the two shall become one in the mystical, spiritual, and physical union we call marriage."

At one point during the debate, Democratic Congressman Barney Frank -- an open homosexual -- faced off with Republican Congressman John Hostettler over what happened when the angels came to take Lot and his family away from Sodom before God destroyed that city.

"There is biblical precedent for a former residence of Abraham's nephew, Lot, and an adverse impact on society in the case of Sodom," Hostettler said.

To which Frank responded: "But not just homosexuality, but of people trying to force themselves on other people. As described there, that's a terribly abusive situation."

Hostettler: "Which is the etymology for the term 'sodomy.'"

Facing God's Judgment
The co-founder of Campus Crusade for Christ says the legalization of same-sex marriage could bring God's judgment on the United States. Vonette Bright says the Bible condemns homosexual behavior and teaches that "nations have been destroyed before us as a result of their moral decadence."

She says America has been blessed in the past for following "the God of the Bible," but could face God's wrath for turning away. Bright says she believes that "much of what we're seeing in the gay issue is that people are not knowledgeable about who God is."

She says supporters of homosexual marriage also do not "realize the price we're going to pay."