Major opponent of gay marriage switches sides

David Blankenhorn, a national figure in the movement against same-sex marriage, has recanted his opposition, saying “the time has come for me to accept gay marriage and emphasize the good that it can do.”

Mr. Blankenhorn, the founder and president of the Institute for American Values, wrote an influential book that argued against same-sex marriage in 2007, called “The Future of Marriage,” and served as an expert witness against the constitutional challenge to California’s Proposition 8, which limited marriage to heterosexuals.

On Friday, he said in an opinion article for The New York Times, published online, and in an interview on NPR that his concerns about same-sex marriage remained, but that “the time for denigrating or stigmatizing same-sex relationships is over.”

“I opposed gay marriage believing that children have the right, insofar as society makes it possible, to know and to be cared for by the two parents who brought them into this world,” he wrote in the article.

He said he still held that conviction. But he added, “Whatever one’s definition of marriage, legally recognizing gay and lesbian couples and their children is a victory for basic fairness.”

“He’s dead wrong,” said the Rev. Jim Garlow, senior pastor of Skyline Wesleyan Church in La Mesa, Calif. “I am a student of history. Christianity has made clear that marriage is between one man and one woman. And what we have seen is that when you change marriage for some, you change marriage for all.”
The focus on same-sex marriage has grown rapidly in recent years, both legislatively and legally. Two requests for review of same-sex marriage rulings in federal courts, including the Proposition 8 case, are headed to the Supreme Court this summer.

Other cases are being argued in lower courts, and referendum initiatives will be on the ballots in November in four states — Maine, Maryland, Minnesota and Washington.

Last month, President Obama endorsed same-sex marriage after nearly two years of saying that his views on the topic had been evolving.

CeCe wrote:...It's good to see some of their "own" starting to recognize what's right, what's fair & what is inevitable.

It's always a possibility that he is coming clean before the pix of him kissing some dude in a pickup bar hits the Internet.

It's happened before.

Shale wrote:
It's always a possibility that he is coming clean before the pix of him kissing some dude in a pickup bar hits the Internet.

It's happened before.

Minerva wrote:A friend of mine told me about a guy she knows who is vehemently against same-sex marriage because it "destroys the sanctity of marriage."

This is a guy who has been having an affair with a married woman for the past two years. And he doesn't even see the hypocrisy in what he says and what he does.

Minerva wrote:A friend of mine told me about a guy she knows who is vehemently against same-sex marriage because it "destroys the sanctity of marriage."

This is a guy who has been having an affair with a married woman for the past two years. And he doesn't even see the hypocrisy in what he says and what he does.

Chris wrote:Eh. Something about his change of heart seems kind of phony. Like that bad kid in class who suddenly becomes 'good,' while retaining their evil smirk.

Chris wrote:Eh. Something about his change of heart seems kind of phony. Like that bad kid in class who suddenly becomes 'good,' while retaining their evil smirk.

Shale wrote:
He is a student of history, yet he does not remember when marriage between blacks and whites in this country were illegal? He sees no correlation between the two issues? The bigots in '67 were quoting for god in that case as well.

"Christianity has made clear that marriage is between one man and one woman."
Hey, student of history - this is not, nor has it ever been a 'christian nation.' Its secular premise has only been usurped by the christian majority over the past couple of centuries, and we who have been discriminated by this are trying to secure our rights as guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.

That discrimination is what finally got rid of all the miscegenation laws and will be what gets rid of all these laws discriminating against ppl because of their gender being denied the right to marry.