Marriage, and the freedom to stand up for it, is under assault in America.
Government, the courts, and their left-wing allies are feverishly working to narrow the scope of what they deem allowable expressions of faith or morality. Whenever someone ventures outside of that range, God help them. Just ask the owners of an Oregon bakery, the Klein family, who were recently slammed with a heavy fine – up to $150,000 -- simply because they refused to violate their religious beliefs and bake a cake for a same-sex ‘wedding.’ It is simply outrageous that government would punish citizens for refusing to accept and cater to a radical redefinition of marriage—one unprecedented in human history—in violation of their deeply held convictions.
Millions of Americans, like Aaron and Melissa Klein, share the view that marriage is strictly a union between one man and one woman. While our beliefs about marriage may be derived in part from our faith, they are also founded on centuries of human experience, decades of academic research, and years of personal observation and experience.
Particularly compelling are significant academic studies that have repeatedly shown that children do best and experience greater emotional stability, better educational achievement, and healthier social behavior when raised by a married mom and dad in the home. Most recently, a study from the British Journal of Education, Society, and Behavioral Science found that children raised by other family structures are at greater risk for mental, emotional, and social problems than if raised by a married mother and father.
The fact is: traditional marriage is historically and internationally recognized as an important institution that substantially benefits society and ensures the best possible chance for our kids to succeed. In fact, Justice Kennedy’s majority opinion in Windsor upheld the rights of states to define marriage in accordance with these legitimate public welfare interests. Yet, several lower court judges have substituted in their own biased judgments and struck down dozens of duly passed marriage laws and constitutional amendments across America.
The Supreme Court will soon consider four of these cases involving the mandate of same-sex ‘marriage.’ Those decisions, expected to be handed down from on high in June, have the potential to invalidate and criminalize future debate on this issue, just like Roe v. Wade tried to do with abortion. That is why I reintroduced the Marriage Protection Amendment this Congress. This Constitutional amendment reaffirms the plain and simple truth: marriage is a union between one man and one woman and no federal judge can say otherwise.
Allowing unelected federal judges —whose judicial impartiality on this matter is highly suspect—to impose a radical, offensive and flatly incorrect redefinition of marriage on the whole of American society is nothing less than an affront to our Republic and the principles upon which it was conceived. I refuse to stand by and do nothing while our country and the ideals that inspired its founding are eroded under our feet.
You shouldn’t either. Call your Member of Congress, write them letters, send them emails, post on Facebook, tweet your thoughts, shout it from the rooftops; do whatever it takes to make it known that you stand for traditional marriage, for religious freedom, for our families, and for our children. Tell them you won’t give all that up without a fight.