National Organization For Marriage president Brian Brown called Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy's decision striking down a key part of the Defense of Marriage Act an "absolute travesty" that will be used in future attempts to expand gay marriage.
Brown was asked by George Stephanopoulos on ABC's "This Week" what he thought of Scalia's furious dissent in the DOMA case, which predicted that the court's ruling would pave the way for state laws banning gay marriage to be struck down.
"Well, I don't think that that is inevitable," Brown responded. "What Justice Scalia is pointing to is the absolute travesty of Kennedy's decision in the DOMA case, which really is incoherent. He doesn't even lay out the basis of what his legal reasoning is."
Brown also blasted the "horrific precedent" the court had outlined in its separate ruling this week on California's Proposition 8, which had banned gay marriage in the state. The Court's ruling lets gay marriage resume in California.
"What it did do was rob the proponents of Proposition 8 after they have seen utter lawlessness with Governor Brown and the attorney general refusing to defend the law, not giving them a defense," he said.
Chad Griffin, the head of the pro-marriage equality group Human Rights Campaign, unsurprisingly had a rather different take on the court's twin rulings.
"American values really did win," Griffin said. "With the erasing of the Proposition 8, same-sex couples in the state of California started getting married on Friday. And now that DOMA has been erased from the books thanks to that historic decision, those couples across the country who are legally married, their relationships and their families will be recognized as such."
Yet Griffin noted that 37 out of 50 states still have laws on the books against gay marriage, meaning that proponents will only ramp up their efforts to spread marriage equality -- and that eventually, the Supreme Court will strike down all bans.
"We'll fight this battle on all fronts, George. We'll fight at the ballot box where there are opportunities, we'll fight at the state legislature, and ultimately this will come back to our federal courts," he said.
"And do you think you'll win there?" Stephanopoulos asked Griffin.
"I have all expectation that we will," he said.
Before You Go
