Maggie Gallagher has praised
presidential hopefuls Michele Bachmann, Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum
for pledging to oppose gay marriage.
The three candidates were the first to
sign the National Organization for Marriage's (NOM) 5-point pledge
promising to work against marriage equality. NOM is the nation's
most vociferous opponent of gay marriage.
Signers to the pledge promise to
support a federal constitutional amendment banning gay marriage,
defend the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in court, appoint judges
and an attorney general who will “respect the original meaning of
the Constitution,” appoint a presidential commission to investigate
the “harassment of traditional marriage supporters,” and back
legislation that would allow a ballot question on the issue for
voters of the District of Columbia.
Appearing on a Christian Broadcasting
Network (CBN) segment, Gallagher, NOM's board chair, called Bachmann,
Romney and Santorum “marriage champions” and chided former
Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, who
opposes gay marriage, for not joining them.
“Three marriage champions have
emerged,” Gallagher said. “These are candidates who [are]
willing to go beyond saying they support one man, one woman marriage
– which even President Obama claims he supports – and commit to
some concrete actions to protect marriage, if they are the leader of
the free world and the president of the United States.”
“The big question is really what's
going to happen with Governor Tim Pawlenty, who explicitly declined
to sign NOM's marriage pledge this week. We're hoping the governor
changes his mind, because we think it's pretty peculiar for Governor
Pawlenty, who's been a champion for marriage in Minnesota, to refuse
to do the same for the people of America.” (The video is embedded
in the right panel of this page.)
On Monday, NOM will launch a bus tour
traveling from Des Moines and arriving at the Iowa Straw Poll in Ames
four days later.