Maggie Gallagher, the co-founder of the
National Organization for Marriage (NOM), has called a federal ruling
declaring unconstitutional California's gay marriage ban, Proposition
8, “dishonest.”
Under Gallagher's leadership, NOM
backed the amendment's passage in 2008. Proposition 8 put an end to
the weddings of gay and lesbian couples taking place in the state
after the California Supreme Court legalized the institution.
On Tuesday, the Ninth Circuit Court of
Appeals said Proposition
8 violates the constitutional rights of gay couples who wish to marry
in California.
In a blog post titled Ninth Circuit
to 7 Million California Voters: You Are Irrational Bigots
published at The
Corner, a blog of the National Review Online,
Gallagher described the ruling as “ill-natured illogic.”
“In a breathtaking exercise in
ill-natured illogic, a divided Ninth Circuit ruled 2-1 that because
Prop 8 does not take away civil-union benefits for same-sex couples,
it's an unconstitutional exercise in irrational animus toward gay
people,” she wrote.
“Dishonestly, the court claimed it
did not require any heightened scrutiny to reach this result.”
Gallagher also suggested gay rights
leaders were dishonest.
“Back in 2004, when we fought about a
Federal Marriage Amendment, gay rights advocates said we were
alarmists for claiming that they would go to federal court seeking a
right to impose gay marriage in all 50 states.”
“That was so last decade,” she
added.