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Officers William
Westmiller
Richard Freedman John
Reed
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NEWS RELEASEMonday: July 12, 2004 Release: Immediate Dateline: Melbourne, FL GOP Caucus Opposes Marriage Amendment The Republican Liberty Caucus, a national
activist organization, has “applauded prominent Republican
leaders who have courageously opposed” the pending Federal
Marriage Amendment. “The RLC is proud to join hands with
Republican legislators and party leaders who recognize that
the proper purpose of government is to protect individual
rights, not restrict liberty,” said RLC Chairman William
Westmiller. The proposed constitutional amendment [S.J. Res.
30] has been scheduled for a U.S. Senate vote on July 15th. The proposal would ban states from granting
any civil union privileges to gay couples. “Marriage and
divorce laws have always been crafted by states,” said RLC
Advisor and Texas Republican Congressman Ron Paul, “The
federal government has no role whatsoever.” Although proponents claim that their
amendment merely restrains judicial activism, the text prohibits
every state from adopting laws that grant any of the “legal
incidents” of marriage, even through civil unions. Former
Congressman Bob Barr, who has received high ratings in the RLC’s
Liberty Index, testified to the Senate Judicial Committee last
week, saying “A constitutional amendment is both unnecessary
and needlessly intrusive and punitive.” Barr, who serves as an
ACLU consultant, says states should be allowed “wiggle room to
decide on their own definitions for marriages or similar social
compacts, free of federal meddling.” The RLC supports a strict construction of
the Bill of Rights as a defense against tyranny, the expansion
of those rights to all voluntary consensual conduct under the
Ninth and Tenth Amendments, and the requirements of equal
protection and due process under the Fourteenth Amendment. The
RLC resolution, adopted unanimously by the Board of Directors,
opposes the Federal Marriage Amendment as clear violation of
these principles. “Marriage is a religious, social and personal matter,” says RLC Advisory Board Director Douglas Lorenz, ”that should not be dictated, endorsed, subsidized or restricted by any government. The right to pursue individual happiness is a fundamental liberty that should be free of all state intervention. True love and genuine personal commitment do not need legal support or sanction.” |
