‘Defending Marriage’ Congressional Hearing – A Romper Room for the Right Wing – Videos

By Karen Ocamnb -

National Organization for Marriage's Maggie Gallagher (Photo screencapture)

Bless Zack Ford over at the ThinkProgress Wonkroom for putting together a compilation of clips (inside) from Friday morning’s absurd “defending marriage” hearing held by the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on the Constitution. Committee Chair Lamar Smith (R-TX) and subcommittee Chair Trent Franks (R-AZ) created a lovely romper room for National Organization for Marriage founder Maggie Gallagher and Edward Whelan of the Ethics and Public Policy Center to play dodge ball with Democratic members of the subcommittee who alternately seemed angry or flummoxed by the old antigay rhetoric.
Ironically, Gallagher kept noting that she was under oath and then would utter statements that, as Zack points out, are incorrect:

“Gallagher repeatedly stated that children do better with a mother and a father, despite ample evidence that children of same-sex parents fair just as well, if not better:
GALLAGHER: If, in fact, marriage, as a public and legal institution…is oriented towards protecting children by increasing the likelihood they have a mother and father, then same-sex couples do not fit, and conversely, if same-sex couples fit the definition of marriage, then marriage really is no longer about responsible procreation in the sense.”

Oh, what mincemeat American Foundation for Equal Rights Perry v. Brown attorney David Boies would have made of her, though Congressmembers Nadler (D-NY), Conyers (D-MI), Scott (D-VA), and Quigley (D-IL) sure gave it a shot.
Complete video of the hearing is available on the Judiciary Committee’s website.



Here’s Rep. Jerry Nadler’s opening statement. Nadler has introduced the “Respect for Marriage Act,” a bill that would repeal the Defense of Marriage Act.



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