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USCCB Decries Refusal to Support Defense of Marriage Act

February 26th, 2011

WASHINGTON—The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops issued the following from its Office of General Counsel:

“Marriage has been understood for millennia and across cultures as the union of one man and one woman. Today, the President has instructed the Department of Justice to stop defending the Defense of Marriage Act, a federal law reiterating that definition of marriage, passed by a Republican Congress and signed by a Democratic President just fifteen years ago. The principal basis for today’s decision is that the President considers the law a form of impermissible sexual orientation discrimination.

“This decision represents an abdication of the responsibility of the Executive Branch to carry out its constitutional obligation to ensure that the laws of the United States are faithfully executed. It is also a grave affront to the millions of Americans who both reject unjust discrimination and affirm the unique and inestimable value of marriage as between one man and one woman. Support for actual marriage is not bigotry, but instead an eminently reasonable, common judgment affirming the foundational institution of civil society. Any suggestion by the government that such a judgment represents “discrimination” is a serious threat to the religious liberty of marriage supporters nationwide.”

February 23, 2011
Anthony R. Picarello, Jr. General Counsel
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

  1. Sean
    February 27th, 2011 at 16:44 | #1

    I love how bad the Catholics look on this issue! As if their pedophile priest problem wasn’t enough, they, of all people, are judging others??? They actually think they’re going to force normal people to practice their religious beliefs?! Ludicrous.

  2. February 28th, 2011 at 14:37 | #2

    Having been raised in the Catholic faith, I know that Catholics need to be married by a priest for the marriage to be considered valid by the Church. Yet Catholic employers are not allowed to disregard the marriages of Catholic men and women who were married by justices of the peace; these employers still have to offer spousal benefits to employees in legal marriages that the Church doesn’t consider valid.

    So the question is: Does that represent a threat to religious liberty?

  3. February 28th, 2011 at 15:17 | #3

    Maybe the UCCB should spend less time worrying about whether grown-up gay people can get a marriage license from a public clerk at City Hall and more time keeping track of priests that have abused little children.

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