Karen Mueller, who is seeking the GOP
nomination for a Wisconsin congressional seat, stated on Tuesday that
she's opposed to marriage equality because it could lead to
incestuous marriages.
Nearly 600 gay and lesbian couples
married in the state earlier this month after a federal judge struck
down Wisconsin's voter-approved constitutional amendment limiting
marriage to heterosexual couples. The ruling is currently on appeal.
“We've got, for instance, two
sisters, and these two sisters want to get married,” Mueller
said during a meet-the-candidates event. “They love each
other. They are committed to each other. They want to spend the
rest of their life together.”
Mueller, a civil rights attorney,
stated that a lawyer representing siblings who want to marry could
get around Wisconsin's law prohibiting such unions by repealing it.
“'We can just do away with that state
law the same way we did away with sodomy laws.' Once you do away
with that, you reveal what is really going on here,” she said.
Gay couples “can get married,” she
asserted. “They just can't get married to each other.”
All three GOP candidates vying for
Wisconsin's 3rd Congressional District stated their
opposition to marriage equality. However, Tony Kurtz said he
supports civil unions. Gay couples living in Wisconsin can enter a
domestic partnership, which includes few benefits and is not
recognized by the federal government. (Civil unions generally offer
all the rights and obligations of marriage.) Republican Governor
Scott Walker has refused to defend the domestic partnership law in a
lawsuit that claims it violates the state's marriage ban. The case
is currently before the Wisconsin Supreme Court.