Christian Attorney Credits SF Mayor for 'Energizing' Marriage Traditionalists
by Allie Martin and Bill Fancher
August 13, 2004
(AgapePress) - The president of a Christian legal group that has been involved in the heat of the battle for traditional marriage is giving kudos to an unlikely participant in the skirmish. The attorney says San Francisco Gavin Newsom should be congratulated for energizing the traditional marriage movement.
On Thursday the California Supreme Court permanently barred Mayor Newsom from issuing same-sex "marriage" licenses. The court also nullified the approximately 4,000 licenses that had already been issued.
Mat Staver | |
Liberty Counsel president Mat Staver says when Newsom began issuing the same-sex marriage licenses in February, it jolted the majority of Americans out of their apathy."Because of his actions, [Newsom] has energized the pro-traditional marriage movement to the point where we have over a dozen states going to the polls now to amend their state constitutions," Staver says, noting there also is a national movement to amend the U.S. constitution.
According to Staver, the pro-homosexual city official has laid the foundation for the pro-marriage movement to win the battle for traditional marriage. The attorney notes a definite change in public polls since the pre-Valentine's Day debacle.
"The polls have clearly indicated that the majority of Americans following his actions of February 12 of this year believe they are drawing a line in the sand and that they want to preserve marriage as the union of one man and one woman," Staver says. "So he deserves a lot of congratulations because I believe his actions will not help the same-sex marriage movement. To the contrary, he has energized the pro-marriage movement -- and I believe we will win this battle."
Thirteen states are currently set to go to the polls between now and Election Day to amend their constitutions to protect traditional marriage. The most recent to approve such an amendment was Missouri, where more than two-thirds of the vote was in favor of the measure.
Bob Knight | |
One pro-family leader hints that the landslide victory in the Show Me State may have influenced the decision handed down by the California high court. Bob Knight of the Culture and Family Institute says that vote may have made the justices sit up and take notice.
"I'm just wondering if that huge vote in Missouri the other day -- 70 percent of the people supporting marriage -- had anything to do with their decision," Knight speculates. He says in light of that result, the California justices may have felt it was "a bridge too far to go -- even if they really wanted to legalize so-called 'gay marriage.'"
A Spiritual Battle
But Dr. James Dobson of Focus on the Family is convinced that another influence may have played a part in the California decision. He says what happened in the Golden State was "an answer to fervent prayer."
"Millions of Americans understand that traditional values are under siege in America," the well-known pro-family leader says. "They have and will continue to turn to God for His divine protection and provision. We are honored to add our prayers to theirs in this campaign to return righteousness to the public square."
And Dobson is not alone in his thoughts regarding the spiritual nature of the issue. A black pastor in California who denounced same-sex marriage in San Francisco before it was stopped by the courts considers it a spiritual battle rather than a civil rights issue. Associated Press says Rev. Gerald Agee, who pastors a church in Oakland, is applauding the California Supreme Court's decision that none of those same-sex couples were legally married.
But he says many Americans, including ministers, continue to turn morality upside down by demanding a civil right for behavior that the Bible calls sinful. Agee recalls that San Francisco pastors performed some of the thousands of homosexual weddings that have been declared null and void. In the pastor's words, "We do have some people who say they are a church, but totally disagree with the Word of God."
