Julaine Appling, president of Wisconsin
Family Action, said on Friday that she's on the “right side of
truth.”
Gay couples began marrying in Wisconsin
after the Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal in a case
challenging the state's ban on gay marriage.
Appling played a pivotal role in
passage of Wisconsin's ban. Her organization also sued the state
after it began offering limited benefits to gay couples in a domestic
partnership, saying that it violated the state's 2006 voter-approved
constitutional amendment limiting marriage to heterosexual unions.
“There's no right or wrong side of
history,” Appling told The
Cap Times. “History's being made every single day. It's
not predetermined. I'm making history now. So are you. What I am
concerned about is being on the right side of truth . I work hard to
know what that is, and I don't have to guess. It's laid out for me.
I don't have to guess. And so, organizationally and personally,
we're concerned about staying on that right side of truth – and
that is to promote this institution of marriage in a heterosexual
format.”
“Our organization was never about the
amendment,” she insisted.
“We're about the institution of
marriage, and so our message has never changed … We've always
talked about marriage as a public good, and as an institution it
needs to be strengthened, preserved and promoted. That's our mission
statement. What we've done is we've ramped up our educational
efforts on marriage.”
She also attacked marriage equality
supporters for “running to the courts.”
“[T]hose determined to redefine
marriage and circumvent that legislative process that's in place to
get their way – because they know they can't get it through the
people – to run to the courts, I think is absolutely
reprehensible,” she said.