Wisconsin Family Connection 
Week of August 23, 2010 - # 849
Blocking an End Run Around the Will of the People 

“My wife and I have talked about this to all our friends,” the caller said.  “And we all agree.  We just don’t get why you think it’s wrong two loving and committed people of the same sex to get married or enjoy the same rights we have as a heterosexual married couple, unless you are part of some fringe religious group,” the caller concluded during my interview with Wisconsin Public Radio on Monday of this week.  “Oh, my, where to start,” I wondered as I quickly framed my response. 

I was happy to inform this caller that while he and his wife and all of their friends may think marriage should be redefined to include so-called “loving and committed” persons of the same sex, there were over 1.25 million citizens in Wisconsin who said in 2006 that they think marriage should be only between one man and one woman.  Those people represented nearly 60% of the voters in that election—all of whom said they didn’t want marriage redefined in gender or in number and they weren’t interested in marriage by another name either.

The interview topic was the lawsuit that members of Wisconsin Family Council’s sister organization, Wisconsin Family Action, filed against the governor last week in the Dane County Courthouse.  The lawsuit alleges that the statewide, same-sex-only domestic partnership registry that Governor Doyle signed into law as a part of the state budget is unconstitutional.   This legal challenge is all about defending the will of those 1.25 million Wisconsin citizens, the constitution they duly amended and the institution of marriage.

The registry created by Doyle and his liberal legislative cohorts creates a legal status substantially similar to that of marriage, which is in direct violation to the Wisconsin Constitution, Article 13, Section 13, the amendment which passed in November 2006. Doyle and his cronies went to great lengths to create a registry that is similar to marriage because they could not have same-sex marriage itself. Those who apply for the domestic partnership registry have to meet all the same requirements opposite-sex couples have to meet to get a marriage license, including pay the same amount for their registry certificate. 

The registry is all about mimicking marriage—about doing an end-run around the will of the people and the amendment.  Government has no purpose if our elected officials can ignore the will of the people and make law whenever and however they choose.

The passage of the registry is an assault on the people, the state constitution, and the institution of marriage. It is a sneaky attempt to redefine marriage in Wisconsin and advance the homosexual agenda.  And that is why Wisconsin Family Action has taken the unconstitutional registry to court.  Our elected officials must not get a free pass when they blatantly disregard what the people want and instead pander to a small fringe group of activists.

Wisconsin Family Action board members are proudly represented in this lawsuit by our friends at Alliance Defense Fund, the nation’s largest legal coalition dedicated to defending marriage, life and liberty across the country.  Locally, our attorneys Michael Dean of First Freedoms Foundation and Rick Esenberg, both of whom are ADF allied attorneys and who are, in our opinion, heroes. 

During the Wisconsin Public Radio interview, a caller said she didn’t think minority rights should be established by majority vote.  My response to that?  What if the vote in 2006 had gone the other way and the marriage amendment had been defeated---would that have been ok with the minority?  Quite frankly, we shouldn’t have to have an amendment that defines marriage, but the minority in Wisconsin who are determined to redefine this bedrock institution forced us to fight for and pass such an amendment.  This latest attack on marriage via the unconstitutional domestic partnership registry just continues to prove they will stop at nothing to get their way. 

The last caller made to let me know I am a bigot and a homophobe, proving again they just don’t get it.  Defending marriage, the constitution, and the will of the people is not hateful, bigoted or homophobic.  It’s just the right thing to do—and we will continue to show up, stand up and speak up for what is right, regardless of name-calling and regardless of whether everyone else thinks it’s the wrong thing to do.  There’s simply too much at stake to do anything else.

This is Julaine Appling for Wisconsin Family Council reminding you the Prophet Hosea said, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.”