Louisiana Follows Suit, Defends Marriage; Ohio Petitions Leap Latest Legal Hurdle

by Rusty Pugh and Jody Brown
September 21, 2004

(AgapePress) - A Christian attorney who has helped states pass measures protecting traditional marriage is reacting to Saturday's referendum in Louisiana where almost 80 percent of the voters approved an amendment to the state constitution banning same-sex "marriage."

Louisiana's amendment bans same-sex marriages and civil unions. Only in New Orleans, home to a politically strong homosexual community, was the race relatively close. Christians had conducted an intense grassroots lobbying campaign for the amendment. Similar amendments to ban same-sex marriage are on ballots in ten other states, and petitions in Ohio are still being verified (see below).

Mat Staver

Mat Staver, president of Liberty Counsel, says religious conservatives and others see societal fundamentals at risk unless only those of different sex can wed. "I think the majority of Americans, and particularly also religious Americans, have believed for a long time that marriage is the union of one man and one woman," he says. "And they see that the fundamental institution of marriage in America, that we've known [throughout] human history, is being threatened by courts such as in Massachusetts and other judges."

Defenders of traditional marriage, he says, are unwilling to allow judges to recreate social policy and undermine traditional marriage. The attorney says such individuals and groups have been the catalyst behind what he describes as a "major movement" in America to amend not only the state constitutions but the federal Constitution as well to preserve marriage as the union of one man and one woman.

That "major movement" to which Staver refers has propelled bans on homosexual marriage to similarly overwhelming victories in other states prior to last weekend's vote in the Bayou State. Voters in Hawaii (69.2 percent), Alaska (68.11 percent), Nebraska (70.1 percent), Nevada (67.1 percent), and Missouri (70.7 percent) have shown their strong opposition to courts' redefinition of marriage.

A national telecast and web cast on religious media Sunday night was aimed at motivating Christians to convince their congressional representatives to pass the Federal Marriage Amendment (FMA), which would limit marriage to couples of opposite sex. The U.S. House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on the FMA during the week of September 27. One pro-family group, the American Family Association, says the results from the state polls over the last several months make it clear why homosexual activists oppose the FMA: "Why are they fighting so hard to keep the FMA out of reach of American citizens? Because they know that Americans will not approve homosexual marriage," AFA says.

Status on Ohio Amendment
Meanwhile, a state court in Ohio has tossed out the most recent challenge to petitions filed in support of a marriage amendment there. Homosexual activists in the Buckeye State had argued the petitions that were circulated should have included a short summary of the 55-word amendment. An attorney for the same groups stated -- before any signatures were gathered -- that a summary was not necessary at all because the amendment was so short.

David Langdon, an attorney for the petitioners, explains: "First, they argued to take the summary off. Then ... they argued that it had to be on. It seems they will stop at nothing to keep Ohio voters from voting on this issue."

Phil Burress, chairman of the Ohio Campaign to Protect Marriage, is pleased with the most recent court ruling on the petitions that will allow "Issue 1" (the Marriage Protection Amendment) to remain on the November ballot. But he says he will not rest until he is confident the opposition has exhausted all of its appeals.

"I'm sure these people are still hopeful that some activist judge will be sympathetic to their arguments and stop democracy in action," Burress says. "But right now the momentum is moving toward being on the ballot."

More than half-a-million Ohio voters signed the petitions to get Issue 1 on the ballot.