63 GOP Lawmakers Compare Incest, Pedophilia, Polygamy To Gay Marriage In Appeals Court Brief

In a clear attack on both same-sex marriage and the separation of powers, 63 conservative Texas lawmakers have signed a brief linking same-sex marriage to pedophilia, polygamy, and incest. 

63 members of the Texas Conservative Coalition have signed their names to a 5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals 40-page amicus brief that links same-sex marriage to pedophilia, polygamy, and “consanguinity” — marriage by persons related by blood, commonly referred to as incest.

To support their beliefs about heterosexual marriage being best for children, they cite “literature” from 1975, 1996, and the debunked, fraud research of Mark Regnerus.

“Legislators who signed the Texas Conservative Coalition brief include Sen. Dan Patrick, the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor, and Sen. Ken Paxton, the GOP nominee for attorney general,” notes Lone Star Q’s John Wright, who was the first to publish a report on the brief.

The Texas Conservative Coalition has been host to many anti-gay right-wing Republican leaders, including Greg Abbott, the Texas attorney general running for governor, and Gov. Rick Perry.

 

“If the right to select ‘partners of their choosing’ is the criterion used to invoke [same-sex] marriage as a fundamental right, then marriage restrictions on age, polygamy, and consanguinity are also ripe for challenge,” the Republican lawmakers claim in the brief, filed to fight U.S. District Court Judge Orlando Garcia’s February ruling that struck down Texas’ ban on same-sex marriage.

“Regulation of morality and societal norms has always been an acceptable, permissible, and constitutional role of state government, and state governments’ police powers over marriage and domestic relations are broad,” the Republicans state. 

In a unique display of illogic and circular arguments, seemingly the core of the brief’s argument is that the people of Texas elected to ban same-sex marriage in response to their fear of pedophilia, polygamy, and incest. 

Another ground cited by supporters of Texas’s marriage laws and subsequently dismissed by the district court is that recognition of same-sex marriage “could lead to the recognition of bigamy, incest, pedophilia, and group marriage[.]”

They also insist that Texas’ same-sex marriage ban, approved by voters in 2005 by a wide margin, was not the result of anti-gay animus but a “celebration” of marriage between a man and a woman. They claim “the laws were enacted with a desire to elevate the state’s legal recognition of marriage to a level that society has celebrated throughout history.”

It is a desire to define, clarify, and celebrate marriage, rather than exclude anyone from it.

And they insist, despite evidence to the contrary, that marriage protects women and children — but only one-man, one-woman marriage.

For example, the State, quoting supporters of the laws, argued that protecting marriage between one man and one woman “gives women and children the surest protection against poverty and abuse,” and “provides for healthy psychological development of children[.]”

The conservative signatories to the brief add that there exists “ample literature supporting the belief that families led by one man and one woman provide the most stable environment for children to support that plausibility.” To prove this, they go back to 1975 and 1996 to quote “literature,” and then include the fraud and debunked Regnerus study as proof.

The brief claims no animus is intended against gay people because Texas “laws apply equally to everyone.” 

While the laws restrict same-sex marriage, they do so not by declaring that homosexuals cannot marry, but by defining marriage as it will be recognized by the State.

The full amicus brief and names of all 63 signatories is available at Lone Star Q or via Scribd.

 

Images via Facebook