Mass. City Hosts Midnight Gala for Homosexual Couples Seeking Marriage

by Fred Jackson, Bill Fancher, and Jody Brown
May 17, 2004

(AgapePress) - By early Monday morning in Massachusetts, hundreds of homosexual couples had already received their marriage license applications. At least one clerk's office opened at midnight and helped the homosexuals celebrate the historic granting of legal homosexual "marriage."

It started November 18, 2003, when four judges sitting on the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court outvoted the other three and ruled the state could not deny homosexuals the right to marry. The court gave the Massachusetts Legislature 180 days to take "appropriate" action. That deadline arrived today.

Associated Press reports there were more than 500 homosexuals lined up outside the Cambridge city clerk office at midnight to get their marriage applications. The city even provided a giant wedding cake. And as predicted, out-of-state homosexuals were among the crowd, including Chris McCary, a resident of Alabama -- where same-sex unions are not recognized.

"This is the most important day of my life. It's something that I didn't think would happen in my lifetime," he said. "This window could be closed in the future, but it's still worth it."

Many pro-family people have warned that people like McCary will now likely return to their home states and demand that their legal marriage licenses be accepted.

Meanwhile, retired Judge Robert Bork has made a sobering prediction. He says it will not be long before judges force all Americans to accept homosexual marriage. "Most court watchers believe that within two to three years, the Supreme Court of the United States will hold that there is a federal constitutional right to homosexual marriage."

Tony Perkins

Let the Legal Circus Begin
Supporters of traditional marriage are examining their future strategy. Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, is concerned that the situation in Massachusetts gives legal ground for challenging marriage laws across the country.

"This will immediately give homosexual activists the plaintiffs they need to not only challenge the federal [Defense of Marriage Act], but also similar laws in 38 states," Perkins says.

"If we do not immediately amend the Constitution so that marriage is protected as the union of one man and one woman, the future of marriage in America will be up to un-elected, activist judges when homosexual 'marriage' lawsuits are filed over the coming days and weeks," the FRC head adds.

Roberta Combs, president of Christian Coalition of America, says traditional marriage is one of the last obstacles to the complete normalization of homosexuality in America. That's why she says the nation's lawmakers need to step up to the plate.

"It is time for Congress to rein in these judicial tyrants who are making these radical judicial decisions," Combs says in a press release. "The Federal Marriage Amendment is crucial in giving back to elected officials the ability to define marriage instead of activist judges who are supposed to interpret law and not make it."

Kansas Senator Sam Brownback agrees, saying it is time to open a new front in the battle over same-sex marriage. "People are going to have to start really going at these runaway judges," the Republican lawmaker says. "This issue is being entirely pushed by the court -- and I think we've really got to start focusing on these judges and what they are doing."

Senator Sam Brownback

At the same time, Brownback is helping push the Federal Marriage Amendment bill through to debate. He believes a federal solution is the only way to effectively deal with this issue. "We are building some steam [in support of the amendment], but most of the focus to date has been at the state levels on the marriage issue," he explains.

"I think with the Massachusetts case, hopefully the focus will move to the federal level, because clearly the only thing that's going to address this is some issue within the federal court system or the U.S. Constitution."

Brownback also wants to see the activist judges who are pushing this liberal agenda removed from the bench.

Not Real Marriage
The House sponsor of the Federal Marriage Amendment says homosexual weddings aren't real marriages, even though it is now legal in Massachusetts. At a subcommittee hearing last week, Congresswoman Marilyn Musgrave said that given God's created order, "In a very real sense, it is impossible for a man to marry a man, or a woman to marry a woman."

Like Brownback, Musgrave is convinced it will take a constitutional amendment to stop judges from forcing Americans to treat homosexual marriages as if they are real. But Congressman Barney Frank -- an open homosexual -- disagreed, predicting that homosexual marriage will not be imposed on anyone and will soon become as routine and "boring" as civil unions in Vermont.

Gary Bauer

The Mythical 10 Percent?
On a related note, Gary Bauer reports that the Democratic Party has established a "gay quota" for its upcoming national convention in July. He reports that at least 15 states have set numerical "goals" for the number of homosexuals that must be in their state delegations.

According to Bauer, California Democrats have decided their 440-member contingent going to Boston should include 22 homosexual men and 22 lesbians. And Maine, he says, want to be sure that three of their 35 delegates are homosexual -- "but being broadminded, they are willing to accept bisexuals and trans-gendered delegates as substitutes," he adds. Bauer wonders if it can get anymore absurd.

"We are in the middle of a war for the survival of Western civilization and one of the major political parties is using the bedroom habits of its members as criteria to qualify as a delegate at their presidential nominating convention," he says.