Christian Conservative Gary Bauer,
president of American Values, claims Martin Luther King Jr. would
be “mortified” that marriage equality activists have “hijacked”
the civil rights movement.
In an interview with Matthew Hagee,
host of The Hagee Hotline, Bauer was asked about the Supreme
Court's decision to hear cases challenging restrictive marriage bans
in four states.
“There is nothing in the Constitution
of the United States that says that same-sex marriage has to be the
law of the land,” the former president of the Family Research
Council (FRC) said.
Citing other social issues such as
abortion and mandatory school prayer, Bauer added: “I think what
we've seen is the concept of civil rights being hijacked by all kinds
of people who, I believe, if Martin Luther King were alive today, he
would be mortified by.”
“I think Dr. King, being a pastor,
would've certainly understood the biblical definition of marriage,
and I think he would've been a powerful voice … for strengthening
the family, for the need for children to be raised with mothers and
fathers.”
Right
Wing Watch points out that King opposed mandatory school prayer
and supported Planned Parenthood. And King's widow, the late Coretta
Scott King, was a vocal supporter of gay rights.
In 2004, she told USA
Today that she was opposed to a constitutional amendment
excluding gay couples from marriage.
“Gay and lesbian people have
families, and their families should have legal protection, whether by
marriage or civil unions,” she said. “A constitutional amendment
banning same-sex marriages is a form of gay bashing and it would do
nothing at all to protect traditional marriage.”