A leading spokeswoman for conservative, anti-gay lobbying group National Organization for Marriage (NOM) headlined a rally in Minnesota this weekend, calling gay marriage "nothing but a government registry of friendships."
Jennifer Roback Morse, leader of NOM's Ruth Institute (which, according to its website, works to promote the cause of heterosexual marriage among college students), told a gathering in Montevideo, Minn., that gay marriage is unnecessary and could lead to the dissolution of marriage altogether.
Morse railed against the decision of U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker, who in 2010 declared unconstitutional California's Proposition 8 ban on same-sex marriage. Morse said Walker's ruling redefined marriage as something "gender neutral."
"[Walker] said something like, 'It’s the state's recognition for two people who want to share their commitment with one another and share resources and take care of any dependents, if any,' you know?" Morse addressed the Montevideo crowd. "If you look at that purpose, there’s nothing there about children. It doesn’t even have to be a sexual relationship."
Same-sex marriage, according to Morse's interpretation of Walker's decision, amounts to nothing more than a "government registry of friendships," she said.
"Now why would we need a government registry of friendships? We don’t! We don’t need that. No one needs that," Morse continued. "And so the next step after removing the gender requirement from marriage will be — must be — to say, 'Who needs marriage at all? Let’s get rid of it. It’s stupid. It doesn’t do anything.'"
The same-sex marriage opponent is clearly no stranger to controversial statements. In fact, she kicked off the Montevideo rally by telling the crowd she had brought along hunter's ear protectors to block out all the "noise" in the gay marriage debate.
"You know what I'm talking about? Every time somebody says, 'You're a bigot,' that's just noise," she said as she donned the headset.
Previously, Morse claimed during a Catholic Women’s Conference in Venice, Fla., that the gay men she encounters have "a sense of shame" because they realize they are "deeply wrong."
In February, she spoke at the "March for Marriage" rally while the Supreme Court heard oral arguments on Proposition 8 and the Defense of Marriage Act. Morse claimed at the time that the children of gay couples will someday resent their parents.
And last October, she said gay and lesbian Americans could save themselves in the eyes of God by adopting permanent, celibate lifestyles.
"Some of those people choose to describe themselves as 'gay' and identify with that attraction, but what I want to say is that that is a decision, to identify with the attraction," Morse said, according to Think Progress. "What the Catholic Church teaches is very simple, that they can be saved, but they have to live a life of chastity — and that God does want them to be saved."
(Hat tip, Towleroad)