America First Party Condemns Mass. Supreme Court Ruling For Gay Marriage - 21 Nov 2003
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...The America First Party (AFP) has issued a statement harshly condemning the Nov. 18 decision of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court to sanction homosexual marriages. In a 4-3 vote Tuesday, the court ruled that homosexuals should have the right to marry, a decision that many opponents of the measure say will galvanize support for traditional marriage and for the passage of a constitutional amendment prohibiting homosexual marriage. America First platform writers voiced emphatic opposition to the Supreme Judicial Court's decision, stating that the AFP "strongly supports the traditional family as ordained by God and built upon the marital union of one man and one woman." Jonathan Hill, chairman of the Massachusetts AFP, says the court's ruling clearly violated natural law, which "is essentially God's law." According to Hill, natural law refers "to the principle that the will of the Creator is implied in the nature of the things that He created." He urged resistance to the courts' decision as a matter of duty, calling the decree unlawful because it opposes the will of God, who is "the supreme legal authority." Although many have pointed out that the Full Faith and Credit clause of the U.S. Constitution implies that state laws concerning marriage must be accepted nationwide, many conservatives note that the Massachusetts ruling on homosexual marriage contradicts laws in 37 other states and challenges four other states whose laws define marriage strictly as a union between a man and a woman. The AFP statement asserts that the Massachusetts decision has created "a quagmire of legal challenges" that will waste time and money while devastating the security of the majority of American families. But Maureen McHugh, secretary of the Illinois AFP, says the effort to validate homosexual relationships under the guise of marriage will never be compatible with natural law nor legitimate under God's law. "This decision only serves as an attempt to make a mockery out of a sacred, God-ordained institution," McHugh says. |