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Press Release Archive
November 18, 2003
Massachusetts Court Imperils Marriage
Decision paves the way for gay marriage
WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Rep. Todd Akin said that today's Massachusetts' court ruling which asserted that in the state of Massachusetts, it is unconstitutional to prevent same-sex couples from marrying "undermines family government and is thus destructive of the foundational building block of American civilization."
Akin continued, "My concern is that by judicial fiat, the courts would change a word whose meaning is foundational to the way our society is structured.
"The ruling jeopardizes the standing of innumerable laws and contracts in all 50 states. If marriage is redefined, everything from pension benefits to inheritance rights are put in legal play. One change of definition will result in legal chaos until such time as all of the implications of the Massachusetts ruling could be addressed through legislation. That could take decades.
"Further, this change of definition raises the question of whether definitional changes of marriage could be ongoing and produce continuous legal instability.
"This decision further attacks the historic understanding of marriage, which is so important for a healthy and functioning society. If this decision were placed along side of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Lawrence versus Texas, it would force all 50 states to legally endorse homosexual marriage - something which a great majority of voters and states do not support.
"It is increasingly imperative that Congress pass the Federal Marriage Amendment, which will protect this most precious of institutions nationally and prevent such state judgments from foisting ill-informed and corrosive opinions on all states of the union.
"It is ironic that Massachusetts, a state that was essential to the establishment of religious liberty and the abolition movement, is now willing to countenance something that could undermine the very experiment in self-government its founders fought and labored so hard to achieve," concluded Akin.
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