David Blankenhorn's reversal on gay
marriage has saddened Brian Brown, the president of the National
Organization for Marriage (NOM).
Blankenhorn, a prominent opponent of
gay nuptials, wrote
in an op-ed that “the time has come for me to accept gay
marriage and emphasize the good that it can do” and “Whatever
one's definition of marriage, legally recognizing gay and lesbian
couples and their children is a victory for basic fairness.”
In 2010, Blankenhorn, the founder and
president of the conservative group Institute for American Values,
served as an expert witness in favor of California's gay marriage ban
at the trial challenging the constitutionality of Proposition 8.
Brown, who helms the nation's most
outspoken group opposed to marriage equality, insisted that
Blankenhorn had been pressured to abandon his opposition.
“David Blankenhorn has suffered
extraordinary vilification and abuse as a result of his writings in
support of marriage as the union of husband and wife and his
testimony in defense of California's Proposition 8,” Brown wrote at
his group's
blog.
“It is sad when a powerful and
compelling voice goes silent – especially when the topic is one as
important as marriage, and where the silence is not motivated by a
change of view about the nature of marriage but rather a seeming
succumbing to the continual pressure of the cultural elite. Yet
retreating from the debate is not a path we or our followers will
ever travel, for retreat will surely lead to defeat. We intend to
fight on, and fight harder, for the truth – that marriage is the
unique union of a man and a woman.”