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Fred Thompson, a Republican presidential candidate, is calling for a constitutional amendment to ‘stop gay marriages.’ The amendment would allow states to ignore marriages performed elsewhere and forbid judges from independently enacting marriage for gay couples. (Photo by Nati Harnik/AP)
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In a video posted this week at Salon.com, Fred Thompson discusses a constitutional amendment he’s proposing to “stop gay marriages.” Below is a transcript of his remarks.
“I am proposing a constitutional amendment that would stop gay marriages as a practical matter in this country. It would have two provisions. One, it would make sure that someone married in Massachusetts, for example, who moved to Tennessee, that Tennessee would not have to recognize that Massachusetts marriage. The second provision would be that no judge could, in effect, impose gay marriage on a state — that that issue would be left up to the state legislature.
“There have been no state legislatures that have affirmatively allowed gay marriage in the United States. It’s a judge-made problem. It’s a judicial, activist, local role, judge-made problem — people who are taking the law and standing it on its head. Marriage is between a man and a woman and that has been accepted through the millennia as the basis of civilization.
“And my approach would attack the problem where the problem is, and that is the judiciary, with, at the end of the day, if some state legislature, if the Iowa state legislature, the Tennessee state legislature, decided to do otherwise, they’d be free to do that. I don’t think it would ever happen — I would not be supportive of that happening — but I’m also a federalist. I do not think one-size-fits-all, national, federal solutions, absolving the states of their responsibilities for good laws, too, is the way to go. I have felt that way my entire career, and I want to be consistent in that regard.” |
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HOME > NEWS > NATIONAL NEWS
By: JOSHUA LYNSEN COMMENTS
 
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“They’re different from what he had initially been saying about what kind of amendment he would support.”
Wolfson, a former Lambda Legal staff attorney, also noted that Thompson’s proposal speaks ill of him as a White House contender.
“Candidates who don’t understand that our freedom as Americans rests on our government’s system of checks and balances, including an independent judiciary, are not qualified to lead this nation,” he said.
Thompson’s proposed amendment wasn’t the only comment that drew criticism. Wolfson and Sammon said Thompson was wrong to describe himself as a federalist in the two-minute video posted at Salon.
“A federalist wouldn’t propose an amendment like this,” Sammon said, “because it intrudes into state affairs.”
In the video, Thompson said he personally opposes gay marriage, but would let states make their own decision on the issue. He noted the approach was consistent with his federalist approach to politics.
“I do not think one-size-fits-all, national, federal solutions, absolving the states of their responsibilities for good laws, too, is the way to go,” he said. “I have felt that way my entire career, and I want to be consistent in that regard.”
But Sammon said Thompson’s proposal was not rooted in federalism because it violates a state’s independence.
“With federalism, you have faith in a state’s ability to make decisions on their own,” he said. “There’s no distinction between if it’s the state court or the state legislature that makes the decision.”
Activists also criticized Thompson for claiming there are “no state legislatures that have affirmatively allowed gay marriage in the United States.”
Seth Kilbourn, political director at Equality California, said his state’s legislature has twice passed a bill to enact marriage equality.
California Gov. Arnold Schwarz-enegger, a Republican, vetoed the first bill in 2005, but has not taken a position on the bill legislators passed just last week.
“Mr. Thompson is clearly wrong on the facts, which is particularly disturbing for a lawyer who is running for president,” Kilbourn said. “T
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