The newly launched effort to overturn same-sex marriage — backed by nearly 50 right-wing groups — is drawing outrage after the coalition posted a video featuring controversial rhetoric. The group argues that Obergefell v. Hodges, the 2015 Supreme Court ruling that recognized same-sex couples’ right to marry nationwide, harmed children — and aims to roll those rights back.
The Greater Than campaign’s website promotes claims such as:
“A woman who identifies as a lesbian can be a loving mother, but she cannot be a father. A gay man can be a loving father, but he cannot be a mother. Children need, deserve, and have a right to both.”
“No adult has a right to a non-biologically related child. No child should lose their mother or father so an adult- gay, straight, single or married- can create a baby.”
They also claim that the “legal existence of same-sex marriage requires the redefinition of legal parenthood in a way that makes a child’s mother or father optional in their life.”
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In the video, anti-same-sex marriage activists including Tony Perkins, the head of the Family Research Council, said: “It’s a mother and a father that bring forth children into the world, and that’s by design, because children need a mother and a father.”
Lila Rose of Live Action said, “Redefining marriage robs children of the natural right to their mother and father.”
And Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President Al Mohler said in the video that same-sex marriage “harms children in virtually every way imaginable.”
Critics blasted the group’ efforts to overturn marriage rights.
Jill Filipovic, who writes about women’s rights, U.S. politics, and foreign affairs, noted, “These are many of the same people who successfully overturned Roe v. Wade. We told you they’d come for same-sex marriage next. They’re coming. The only question is whether they succeed.”
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The Bulwark’s Bill Kristol, director of Defending Democracy Together, wrote: “Honestly glad to see all the cards out on the table. 1. People can stop being surprised by how radical and thorough-going the reactionary agenda is. 2) This is a chance to cause some rifts and wedges in Trump/MAGA world.”
Tim Miller of MS NOW and The Bulwark added, “I find it encouraging that these people are coming out of the shadows. Best to know who wants to nullify your family unit.”
“If these people had their way, my sister and I—and millions of other children of LGBTQ parents—wouldn’t exist,” wrote Iowa State Senator Zach Wahls. “Every child deserves a family as loving as the one I grew up in. And those are the same values that Chloe and I are passing on to our son. We’re not going back.”
Jessica Riedl of the Brookings Institution observed, “This video is nonsense on stilts. They are ranting about gay adoption as a reason to ban to gay marriage (separate issues) – and assuming that if gays cannot marry, they will instead raise kids within heterosexual marriages.”
The Bulwark’s Catherine Rampell, an MS NOW anchor, warned simply: “They’re coming for gay marriage.”
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