Legislators create urgency for other states to pass marriage amendments

Contact: Valerie Mosher, Concerned Women for America, 202-488-7000 ext. 126

WASHINGTON, April 7 /Christian Newswire/ -- Vermont legislators overrode Governor James Douglas' veto today to require the state to act as if same-sex couple arrangements are equivalent to marriage. Concerned Women for America's President, Wendy Wright, says:

"Vermont was the first state to create civil unions, an arrangement allowing same-sex couples all the government-bestowed benefits of marriage.  But as pro-family leaders warned, and despite claims by homosexual activists, this debate is not about benefits.  That was merely the wedge to demand more, to require that everyone in society accept what cannot -- by nature -- be, that marriage can be something other than one man and one woman.

"Marriage is the unique relationship between a man and a woman who together provide children with the benefits of the two sexes, male and female.  A marriage cannot be complete without both sexes.  While government officials may change definitions, they cannot change nature.  The first human relationship was between one man and one woman, and it became the foundation of all society.  Vermont legislators' futile attempt to replace God by vainly redefining marriage eerily follows how that first man and woman acted on the first temptation -- and the root of all temptations -- to act as if they were gods.  That one decision by Adam and Eve to believe that they could 'be like God' separated them from God, destroyed the peace that they had experienced, and ushered in what some would call 'unintended consequences' of pain and destruction.

"The decision by Vermont legislators to attempt to redefine marriage creates an urgency for other states and officials to protect marriage."

Concerned Women for America is the nation's largest public policy women's organization.