BY NATASHA LENNARD
YouTube/RWWBlog
Compared to the raucous celebrations of gay marriage supporters, the response from opponents has been somewhat muted since New York legalized it over the weekend. But rest assured: Many of the usual anti-gay suspects are quite upset! We've compiled some of their most notable reactions:
- Tony Perkins, the president of the Family Research Council, bemoaned that "[e]normous political coercion has resulted in a profound failure of moral courage in the New York Senate. A clear majority of the people of New York oppose counterfeit 'marriage'."
- Maggie Gallagher of the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) had a warning for the GOP: "New York Republicans are responsible for passing gay marriage. The party will pay a grave price ... Sad that N.Y. GOP has caved." (NOM is also pledging $2 million to New York's GOP senators if they reverse the same-sex marriage decision.)
- Riffing on long-discredited arguments, the American Spectator's W. James Antle III wrote that "severing marriage from its last links to biology will have its consequences," adding that "most New York gays and lesbians will likely enjoy the social status their new right confers without ever exercising it."
- Matt Barber of Liberty Counsel, a nonprofit public interest law firm dedicated to "Christian religious liberty, the sanctity of human life, and the traditional family," said that New York is "the last of the low-hanging fruit ... It's not the end of the marriage debate. It's not even the beginning of the end of the marriage debate."
- Byron York of the Washington Examiner tweeted that "an iconic image of American heroism [had been turned] into a celebration of gay marriage," linking to the Daily Kos, where an image based on the Iwo Jima Memorial, but with a rainbow flag, is posted. Boston Globe columnist Jeff Jacoby retweeted York's message, adding, "Ugh. Sacrilege."
- The Revs. Jason McGuire and Duane Motley of the anti-gay marriage New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms said: "The First Amendment to the US Constitution guarantees that 'Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof ...' This amendment is a clear violation of that protection. The amendment still fails to protect an individual's right to exercise their religious freedom," McGuire said. Motley added, "The amendment language does nothing to protect cake bakers, caterers, photographers, florists, or other people of strong religious faith opposed to same-sex 'marriage' that refuse to provide services for same-sex couples."(Via New York Daily News).
- New York's Archbishop Timothy Dolan, during Sunday Mass: "I've been down a little recently, as you might imagine," referring to the decision. "We as Catholics would oppose any attempt by anybody to redefine marriage, whether that -- whomever that may be."
- And last but by no means least, the ever-troubling Pat Robertson responded to the New York news with a helpful dose of scripture-underpinned crazy mouth: "There isn't one single civilization that has openly embraced homosexuality that has survived," he said on his television show. He also noted that the people of biblical Sodom raped angels.
- http://www.salon.com
