Brian Brown, president of the National
Organization for Marriage (NOM), has weighed in on Australians voting
for same-sex marriage.
On Wednesday, the Australian government
announced the results of a national survey on whether marriage rights
should be extended to gay and lesbian couples. An overwhelming
majority (61.6%) of respondents voted “yes” to a change in the
law.
(Related: After
vote, Australia's Malcolm Turnbull promises marriage equality before
Christmas.)
A day after the results were announced,
a
bill that would legalize such unions was introduced in parliament.
In a Facebook post, Brown said that
Australians had voted “against the truth.”
“In a non-binding move, Australians
voted for 'gay marriage,'” Brown wrote. “They voted against the
truth that children deserve their own mother and father whenever
possible. They voted against millennia of common sense that life is
created only by a man and a woman, and that gendered marriage is the
only institution that attaches new life to parents. Sure, Australia,
you can vote against truth, but it doesn’t change the truth. Thanks
to the millions of Australians who still know the truth. A painful
loss to them, but one that will be only temporary, because truth
always rises again.”
For nearly a decade, NOM has led in the
fight against marriage equality in the United States. It came to
prominence with passage of California's Proposition 8, which rolled
back marriage rights for gay couples in the state.