WASHINGTON, D.C., FEB. 20, 2004 (Zenit.org).- A pro-family organization warned that a county in New Mexico plans to give legal recognition to same-sex “marriage,” in the wake of similar moves by the cities of San Francisco and Chicago.
“It is quite clear that the tyranny of four judges in Massachusetts last November has left every state and county in this nation vulnerable to having same-sex ‘marriages’ forced upon them,” Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, said in a statement today.
The statement came in response to reports that a Sandoval County clerk in New Mexico was planning to begin distributing marriage licenses to homosexual couples.
“We now have judges acting like legislators in Massachusetts, and a mayor acting like a judge in San Francisco. They need to go back and read their job descriptions,” Perkins added.
“Over the past day, elected officials in New Mexico and Chicago have signaled their intent to begin granting same-sex couples marriage licenses,” he said. “The federal government must not allow these rogue actions to endanger the marriage laws of every other state in the union.”
In San Francisco, a defiant Mayor Gavin Newsom officiated at the wedding of one of California’s most prominent lesbian politicians in his City Hall office.
The state’s two U.S. senators, Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, both San Francisco Democrats, expressed opposition to the city’s stand.
Feinstein noted that California voters four years ago overwhelming approved a measure that says only marriages between men and women are valid, the Associated Press reported. “If the mayor believes that law is unconstitutional, the place to go is the court,” she said.
