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Religious groups lodge same-sex marriage challenge | Religious groups lodge same-sex marriage challenge |
(7 months later) | |
Catholic, Protestant and Mormon groups have united to lobby a federal appeals court to uphold same-sex marriage bans in Utah and Oklahoma. | |
The religious coalition filed a 42-page brief at a Denver-based court on Monday arguing that unions between a man and woman were sanctioned by God and best for children, families and society. | |
The court is reviewing cases that could reverse gay marriage bans in both states. | |
“We believe that children, families, society and our nation thrive best when husband-wife marriage is upheld and strengthened as a cherished, primary social institution,” said the brief, which was signed by representatives of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention and the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod. | |
That belief did not mean they were anti-gay, irrational or bigoted, as critics claimed, it said. “The accusation is false and offensive. It is intended to suppress rational dialogue and democratic conversation, to win by insult and intimidation rather than by reason, experience, and fact.” | |
The “friend of the court” brief was one of several submitted on Monday by various groups, professors and state attorneys general who are backing Utah and Oklahoma in their effort to reverse recent rulings by federal court judges. They have appealed to Denver-based 10th US circuit court of appeals. | |
Utah state attorneys filed their opening argument last week in a 120-page brief that said same-sex marriages posed long-term risks for children and that the state had a duty to defend children who could not defend themselves. | |
Shannon Minter, legal director for the National Centre for Lesbian Rights, said in a statement that religions would always be free to choose which marriages they performed but the state could not exclude a fundamental right to any group of people based on religious views held by some. “Our society is strengthened when the law both supports all families and protects the freedoms of conscience and belief.” | |
The American Academy of Pediatrics (Aap) has repeatedly stated its support for same-sex marriages. “If a child has two loving and capable parents who choose to create a permanent bond, it’s in the best interest of their children that legal institutions allow them to do so,” Aap president Thomas McInery said in June. | |
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