Pence Supports Marriage Amendment

PENCE SUPPORTS MARRIAGE AMENDMENT

Congressman Mike Pence delivered the following remarks on the House floor in 2004 regarding a constitutional amendment that would define marriage as a union between one man and one woman:

"I rise in strong support of the Marriage Protection Amendment, and consider this to be an extremely important day in the life of this institution and the life of this nation.

"Let me say that though I am a conservative and though I support a Constitutional Amendment to define marriage in the terms that the overwhelming majority of the American people wish to continue to define it, it is not my desire to impose views or attack any individual or anyone in a relationship in America.

"I'm from south of Highway 40 in Indiana but I do know the difference between defending and attacking. The truth is, as legal scholars and millions of Americans know, the institution of marriage is under attack by activist judges. It brings us, as the Majority Leader said so eloquently, to this place by necessity where a Constitutional Amendment is the only way we can express the will of three-out-of-four or more Americans who desire to continue to have this fundamental institution of marriage defined as it has been throughout the millennia.

"Activist judges have had successes since 1999 when they convinced the Vermont Supreme Court that they should order a state legislature to legalize same sex marriage.

"The second major victory came when they convinced the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court to force that state to give full marriage licenses. The activists have literally plotted a state-by-state strategy to increase the number of judicial decisions mandating same sex marriage.

"And the U.S. Supreme Court provided potent ammunition to activists when they decided the Lawrence vs. Texas case in June of last year.

"In that case dealing with same sex sodomy, the court strongly signaled that a right to same sex marriage could be found in the Constitution.

"Scholars ranging from Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia all the way to Harvard liberal scholar and author Laurence Tribe agree that the Lawrence vs. Texas case paves the way for this Supreme Court in this nation's capital to recognize same sex marriage.

"Same sex couples are now challenging marriage laws in states across the union, including my own state of Indiana.

"So we come here not to attack, but rather in a spirit of civility to defend an institution that is cherished and is so essential to the American people in the life of our nation.

"And with this I close: We are here today because marriage matters. Because like millions of Americans, I believe that it was ordained by God, instituted in the law, is the glue of the American family and the safest harbor to raise children.

"Let us adopt this measure, defend the institution of marriage and ensure that our society's most cherished social institution is defined by ‘we the people' and not un-elected judges."

http://mikepence.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=44706