Posted on 02/14/2004 9:45:48 AM PST by BenLurkin
As same-sex couples tied the knot in San Francisco, "My first reaction was they have lost their minds," the Palmdale Republican said.
City officials in San Francisco started marrying same-sex couples Thursday at the behest of Mayor Gavin Newsom, and the civil unions were expected to continue throughout the weekend as lines formed outside City Hall.
Calling the unions a "sideshow," Knight said he only hopes the same-sex couples realize that their marriages are not legal. "It's absolutely illegal. Those departments do not have the authority to change California law," he said.
In March 2000, two-thirds of California voters passed Knight-authored Proposition 22 defining marriage as an institution between a man and a woman.
But proponents of same-sex marriage challenge the right of the voters to put in place legislation that violates the California Constitution.
"Prop. 22 did not amend the constitution. When you have a battle between a state law and the constitution - the constitution always wins," said Lorri L. Jean, attorney and chief executive officer of the LA Gay and Lesbian Center.
"People can not pass an initiative that violates the constitution," Jean said.
But Knight doesn't see it that way at all. A lawsuit filed in the Superior Court against San Francisco's treasurer and clerk by the Alliance Defense Fund, representing Knight, was brought to court Friday and held over for a hearing on Tuesday.
"We are asking the courts to provide for an injunction," Knight said.
Though the push by states against the legalization of same-sex marriage has taken on a sense of urgency, some legislators are going against the grain in what they say is a matter of civil liberty.
Assemblyman Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, decided this week to introduce his "Marriage License Non- Discrimination Act," which seeks to legalize same-sex marriage, and was expected to have at least 20 co-sponsors.
The legislation would amend California family's code definition of marriage from "between a man and a woman" to "between two persons."
Advocates of same-sex marriage say denying gay and lesbian couples the right to marry is a violation of the California Constitution that illegalizes all forms of discrimination.
"In this country marriage is not a religious institution … making it a civil right," Jean said.
Saying the marriages are more symbolic than anything else, Jean said their significance is twofold .
"It sets in motion a legal case to determine whether the constitution does indeed require that all Californians be treated equally regardless of sexual orientation," Jean said.
Secondly, these are the very first government sanctioned same-sex marriages that have ever occurred in this country, she said.
Knight challenges the argument that denial of marriage rights to same-sex couples is discrimination.
"They are defining discrimination. I say there is no discrimination in the fact that they can marry whomever they want … so long as it's a woman," Knight said.
"They can't marry their dog, their horse or their daughter or their son," Knight said. If we were going to discriminate and say they could only marry females of their ethnic background, that would be discrimination," Knight proffered as an example.
"They are saying they are discriminated against because the definition of marriage doesn't allow them the liberty to marry another man (or woman)," Knight said.
Knight chastised city officials in San Francisco for what he said is misleading and unfair to the couples.
"It's going to be a big letdown and it kind of appears they are taking advantage (of the couples)," Knight said.
Jean said couples are being told that their rights can not be enforced.
"I think that people in San Francisco know exactly what this means and doesn't mean and like all civil rights movements, gains are made incrementally … sometimes it advances the cause and sometimes it doesn't," Jean said.
While some legislators scrambled to seek an injunction against the marriages, others took the opportunity to follow suit.
In a press release Friday, Assemblyman Paul Koretz, D-West Hollywood, urged the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors to join San Francisco, taking a stand against discrimination toward same-sex couples by issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples and recognizing those granted in San Francisco.
"Marriage is a basic human right. Denying same-gender couples this right is a violation of the nondiscrimination clause of the California Constitution," Koretz stated.
"Armageddon will not arrive, heterosexual marriages will not crumble by the thousands," Jean said. "Life will go on and no one will be hurt."
"After the meal, as they were preparing to retire for the night, all the men of Sodom, young and old, came from all over the city and surrounded the house. They shouted to Lot, "Where are the men who came to spend the night with you? Bring them out so we can have sex with them."
Lot stepped outside to talk to them, shutting the door behind him. "Please, my brothers," he begged, "don't do such a wicked thing. ......"Stand back!" they shouted. "Who do you think you are? We let you settle among us, and now you are trying to tell us what to do! We'll treat you far worse than those other men!" And they lunged at Lot and began breaking down the door.
Very similar to what is happening now. They will not be constrained by laws, or decency. They don't want us telling them what to do!
Michael Swift, one of their leaders told us that they would seduce our sons, in Boy Scouts, at the YMCA, Schools, Churches, everywhere, to turn them into homosexuals! He said that they would "conquer the world because warriors inspired by, and banded together by homosexual love and honor are invincible. The family unit, the spawning ground of all lies, betrayals, hypocrisy and violence will be abolished. The family unit, which only dampens the imagination and curbs the free will must be eliminated."
We are at war, not just with Islamic terrorists but these homosexuals who pave the way for the militant terrorists by tearing apart the strength of our society. If you like your life here in the USA, you better fight these gay lobbiest, and stop them in every neighborhood! Our country will fall if we let it continue.
SS. Another " Hoosier" America can be proud of!
There's a similar story in Judges 19, when a crowd in the city of Gibeah in Benjamin demands that a Levite spending the night in their town (at the house of an Ephraimite, an outsider there just as Lot was in Sodom) be handed over to them to be sexually abused; the householder offers them his virgin daughter and the Levite's concubine. Eventually the crowd accepts the concubine instead and abuse her so severely that she dies from the ordeal.
What a moronic statement!
Is this person a lawyer? or pretending to be one?
Sure.
If it not a religious institution it is a civil right?
Hello?
Lot had become depraved in that evil city. There is no effort to hide this fact.
But because they saw fit to leave, they were spared (all except Lot's wife, of course).
Um, if you knew much about Islamic sexual behavior, you'd know that they believe sodomy is not sex (coherent with Islam's pagan origins). Mulim rapists sodomize a female victim, so as not to defile themselves by having sex with her. Such gang rapes by Muslim thugs are now common in Europe. It is not uncommon for a Muslim shopkeeper to keep a boy around to please himself.
Your concerns about Islam and sodomy are one and the same.
Is the history of Israel one of absolute purity and righteousness? No. To the contrary, it's the struggle of Man's nature striving to overcome it's own perversions and injustice. Israel ended up being divided and conquered for its failure to honor the laws of God.
Ruthless. Exactly right.
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