Tony Perkins, president of the Family
Research Council (FRC), said Sunday that the Supreme Court's recent
decision regarding five gay marriage cases enabled “evil bidding”
by lower courts.
Perkins appeared on Fox News Sunday
to discuss the week's historic gains for marriage equality opposite
Theodore Olson, the prominent attorney who successfully argued
against Virginia's ban.
Perkins criticized the court for
refusing to hear appeals in the cases, thereby allowing lower court
rulings striking down the bans to stand, effectively legalizing such
unions in 11 states.
“The effect of this is the court did
a back-alley type Roe v. Wade judicial decision by letting the
lower courts do their evil bidding. The court has lit the fuse to a
powder keg culturally that is going to have ramifications for years
to come in this nation,” Perkins
said.
Olson disagreed with that analogy.
“I think the analogy would be to the
1967 decision of the United States Supreme Court that struck down
bans on interracial marriage,” Olson said. “We now understand
and the American public believes that that was a right decision and
that's right for America. Over 59 percent of Americans now believe
that marriage equality should be the law of the land. Individuals
should be allowed to get married to the person that they love. The
individuals involved in these cases have been together for decades.”
At one point in the debate Perkins
pressed Olson by asking, “If love is the factor, what boundaries
are there?”
Olson mostly ignored the question, but
moderator Chris Wallace asked, “What are you suggesting? That
[there is] going to be polygamy? That people are going to be
marrying their pets?”
“No, I didn't say that,” Perkins
answered, then repeated the suggestion. “If we remove the natural
established boundaries for marriage, the union of a man and a woman,
we've removed those boundaries, those guardrails.”
Olson added that allowing gay couples
to marry does not affect heterosexual couples.
“There's no heterosexual couple that
is going to decide to get a divorce or not get married or not raise
children just because another couple next to them is treated equally
and with respect,” he said.