Indiana Governor Mike Pence says he
remains hopeful a federal appeals court will uphold the state's ban
on gay marriage.
A 3-judge panel of the Seventh Circuit
Court of Appeals in Chicago heard arguments Tuesday in appeals to
cases that struck down bans in Wisconsin and Indiana.
Indiana Solicitor General Thomas
Fischer faced hostility from the judges to his arguments.
“I'm just grateful that the attorney
general is appealing the case,” said
Pence, a Republican, “and taking the argument for Indiana's
state law all the way into the Court of Appeals.”
“I still hope that the court will
side with the state's ability to craft laws in this area,” he
added.
Judge Richard Posner, a Ronald Reagan
appointee, harshly criticized the arguments made by defendants in
support of the bans, at one point calling them “a tradition of
hate.”
When he asked Fischer what benefits to
society could possibly outweigh the damages the bans inflict on the
children of gay and lesbian couples, Fischer answered, “All this is
a reflection of biology.”
“Men and women make babies, same-sex
couples do not … we have to have a mechanism to regulate that, and
marriage is that mechanism,” Fischer answered.