Posted on 07/24/2011 1:57:02 PM PDT by DesertRenegade
As gay couples began marrying on the day New York became the sixth and largest state to recognize same-sex unions, politicians Sunday made clear whether they were wedded to the policy or not.
Republican presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty said he didn’t think “all domestic relationships are the same as traditional marriage,” on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
After host Candy Crowley reminded the former Minnesota governor that gay marriage had been legal for a year in Iowa, a key campaign battleground state in which Pawlenty is heavily invested, he said: “We want to maintain traditional marriage elevated in the eyes of the law and in our society. It is not the same as other domestic relationships.”
He rebutted the notion that the GOP is “behind the curve” – in Crowley’s words — on the gay marriage issue.
“Every time this issue has been put to the people, even in California, the people have supported traditional marriage. So this notion that the people broadly don’t support traditional marriage, that hasn’t been the case, when it’s been put to a vote,” he said.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) also on “State of the Union” said Americans were now more open to homosexuality and argued for a repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act.
“Marriage is always a creature of the state for legal reasons – divorces, inheritances, adoption. All family matters are done by state law. What DOMA did was … it said you could have none of the federal rights or benefits that come with a state same-sex marriage. In my view that’s both wrong and unconstitutional,” she said.
Feinstein last week introduced a Senate bill with 27 co-sponsors to undo DOMA and which would allow same-sex couples to receive the same federal benefits as are afforded to a husband and wife.
She said “as time goes on” gay marriage would become more acceptable to many Americans.
New York voted to legalize gay marriage in a highly charged late-night session last month, joining Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont, along with Washington, D.C.
New York is the most populous state to legalize gay marriage, and its decision brings to 35 million the number of Americans permitted by law to marry either sex. Some 39 states have statutes banning same-sex marriage.
Marriages held in New York will be recognized in D.C. and the five states where same-sex unions are legalized, and also Rhode Island and Maryland, where Gov. Martin O'Malley said Friday he will lead a legislative effort to legalize gay marriage, according to the Baltimore Sun.
The New York bill, signed into law hours after its passing by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, is believed to have bolstered the governor’s credentials as a potential presidential candidate in 2016, and led some to speculate he could become President Barack Obama’s running mate in 2012.
Gov. Cuomo on Sunday proclaimed July 24 as a “Day to Commemorate Marriage Equality,” saying in a statement: “The State of New York respects and supports the bonds of love, trust, and commitment that exist between two people in a committed relationship, and therefore recognizes that the right to marriage under the law must be respected and protected equally for all New Yorkers …
“Today, the effective date of the Marriage Equality Act, is a profoundly important day for the countless New Yorkers who will heretofore have the right to enter into the bonds of marriage in their home state.”
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg later Sunday plans to officiate the marriage between his chief policy adviser, John Feinblatt, and the city’s commissioner for consumer affairs, Jonathan Mintz.
In an interview alongside Feinblatt and Mintz with Christiane Amanpour on ABC’s “This Week” broadcast Sunday, Bloomberg said: “It’s [gay marriage] gonna take off simply because of the economics and the young people as they have more and more influence on the political process, as they get older, as they support campaigns. … This is a trend that will grow very rapidly partly because New York is such a bellwether.”
Former Mayor of New York Rudy Giuliani, a Republican, last week argued that the GOP should “get the heck out of people’s bedrooms and let these things be decided by states,” while Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who is widely speculated to be considering a run for president in 2012, on Friday said New York’s gay-marriage decision is “their business.”
“That is their call,” he told the Associated Press. “If you believe in the 10th Amendment, stay out of their business,” he said.
Republican presidential hopefuls Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota and former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum have signed a pledge to defend marriage between a man and woman. Newt Gingrich, who did not sign the pledge, last month said New York’s gay marriage ruling showed the nation was “drifting toward a terrible muddle.”
The first couple to marry in Manhattan were Phyllis Siegel, 76, and Connie Kopelov, 84, who have been together for 23 years, the AP reported. Opponents of the law rallied in cities across New York demanding a statewide referendum.
No different than abortion....right?? That's nuts!!
I was watching the news when suddenly I had to shield my eyes.
That’s the world we live in.
They also seem to be "more open" to their children being molested by "teachers" and all kinds of other liberal garbage.
I dont’ know if Americans are more open to it, or if it’s just everywhere. It does seem that every tv show has at least one homosexual character. Warehouse 13, a favorite show of mine just added a new gay character. For now particular reason I could see. The show is not about these people’s private lives at all.
‘The first couple to marry in Manhattan were Phyllis Siegel, 76, and Connie Kopelov, 84..’
Yuk. Gonna be sick.
When I was a kid in the 50’s, we dealt with these scum just like any other scoundrels. The fact that our society now enshrines perversion is a clear sign of our nation’s downfall.
Response: The fallacy of the philosophy of debate, discussion, expression of different points of view.
Simple action, leaves the talkers talking everytime. Instead of the normal giving the law to the homosexual, the homosexual is giving the law to the normal.
Homosexuals are still an underwhelming minority of the population.
Just as with communism, it has been mainstreamed through the critical avenues of thought control (education, media, entertainment, religion, and politics).
The homosexuals voted for Obammie the Commie to ensure that “marriage” would be opened to them...so that they can feel “normal.” They would rather have a communist nation that allows them to “marry” (even though it is nothing more than a contract in the eyes of the state and an abomination in the eyes of God) than a free country that is ruled by the morality of our Western heritage, which is based in Judeo-Christian principles.
They will forever feel “abnormal” because they know that even in those societies that supported homosexuality, true homosexuality was still a very small minority of the population.
And they will never feel normal because they know that what they are doing is unnatural.
Their fight is with God of the Bible and with His creation. Knowing they can never win that battle, they choose instead to attack His messengers and His people who try to uphold his doctrine.
Homosexuals: You are not normal. What you are doing is not natural. You will pay the price for battling God. And you will lose this cultural war as well.
Congratulations, all you states and tyrannical judges for passing this bogus legislation against the will of the people. What you are doing, though you are completely unaware of it, is pushing America to add an Amendment to the Constitution protecting religious practice and defining marriage as it has been defined traditionally.
Perry has found the perfect facade under which to hide his liberalism. Perry, who supported pro-abortion liberal Al Gore in 1988, and pro-abortion RINO Rudy Giuliani almost 2 decades later, in 2008. Get lost, Rick. We have had our fill of phony career politicians from Texas (and elsewhere).
Like abortion....this should be, and is..a decision for each state...so NYers get what they voted for...However, exoect after 2012, witht eh GOP controlling the Senate, that we’ll get a constitutional amendment..because DOMA, which Clinton told us would make an amendment unnecessary, has been ingorned by Obama...untimately, this will benefit the GOP..
Perry may have his own history with that lifestyle choice: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0611/57381.html
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