WASHINGTON -- Hours after a federal appeals court declared California's same-sex marriage ban unconstitutional Tuesday, Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) slammed the notion that marriage could be anything other than between a man and a woman.
"The court, as I understand it today, struck down a law that said marriage is between a man and a woman. It's interesting that there are some courts in America where the judges have become so wise in their own eyes that they know better than nature or nature's God," Gohmert said on the House floor.
"Nature seemed to like the idea of an egg and a sperm coming together because of pro-creation," he continued. Drawing a parallel to Iowa Supreme Court justices who ruled in favor of same-sex marriage in 2009, he said, "Apparently they thought the sperm had far better use some other way biologically, combining it with something else."
Gohmert warned that the California judges who shot down Proposition 8 could face the same fate as some of those Iowa Supreme Court justices. Three of them lost their seats when they came up for reelection a year later, something that hadn't happened in Iowa in more than 40 years. In that case, angry voters retaliated after the same-sex marriage ruling and told the justices they were "not smart enough to figure out actual plumbing," said the Texas Republican.
Many state Supreme Court justices -- including those in California -- can be voted off the bench. But federal judges, such as those on the 9th Circuit who ruled on Proposition 8 on Tuesday, are lifetime judges.
Gohmert was one of a handful of House Republicans who made remarks about marriage, in part in response to the Prop 8 ruling and in part because, as it turns out, this week is National Marriage Week. Rep. Alan Nunnelee (R-Miss.) talked about his wife of 30 years and what he said she has taught him: That people shouldn't act on same-sex attractions.
"One of the things that I've learned from her that applies to National Marriage Week, I've heard her say time and time again: Love's not a feeling, it's an action," Nunnelee said. "You can't help how you feel about something. You can help how you act."