Brian Brown, president of the National
Organization for Marriage (NOM), on Friday denounced a ruling
declaring invalid Virginia's ban on gay marriage.
Brown accused the federal judge in the
case, who stayed her ruling pending an appeal, of “twisting the
constitution.”
(Related: Judge
strikes down Virginia's ban on gay marriage.)
“This is another example of an
Obama-appointed judge twisting the constitution and the rule of law
to impose her own views of marriage in defiance of the people of
Virginia,” Brown said in a blog post. “There is no right to
same-sex 'marriage' in the United States constitution. In fact, the
U.S. Supreme Court has said that states have the preeminent duty of
defining marriage. The people of Virginia did just that in voting
overwhelmingly to affirm marriage as the union of one man and woman.
That decision should be respected by federal judges and we hope that
the U.S. Supreme Court ends up reversing this terrible decision.
This case also leaves a particular stench because of the
unconscionable decision of Attorney General Mark Herring to not only
abandon his sworn duty to defend the laws of the state, but to
actually join the case against the very people he is duty-bound to
represent.”
(Related: Gay
rights groups cheer Virginia gay marriage ruling.)