Minnesota Senator Al Franken on
Thursday disputed Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley's assertions on
marriage.
During a Senate
committee hearing on repeal of the Defense of Marriage (DOMA),
Grassley noted his opposition to eliminating the 1996 law that bars
federal agencies and the military from recognizing the legal
marriages of gay and lesbian couples by stating that marriage has
always been between a man and a woman.
“I just believe you misstated the
history of marriage,” Franken said. “Marriage has not existed as
a union between one man and one woman for thousands of years in every
culture. In many cultures, men have been able to marry many women
and even young girls. For centuries, women have been treated as
chattel in marriage. Further, if the religious purpose of marriage
is for procreation, why would we sanction marriage between an
80-year-old widower and an 80-year-old widow?”
“I just think we need to be accurate
when we talk about [the] history of man and woman, the history of our
institutions,” Franken added. (The video is embedded in the right
panel of this page.)
Franken added that he had great respect
for Grassley.