Robert Wexler: “In spite of all this rhetoric about protecting marriage and saving the country from rogue activist Federal judges, the…”

“In spite of all this rhetoric about protecting marriage and saving the country from rogue activist Federal judges, the bill we are debating here today does not protect Americans from gay marriage. We are not debating a gay marriage bill. We are debating a court-stripping bill, and one that is more Draconian than any such bill Congress has ever considered. Every year, we teach elementary school students throughout America about the wisdom of our Founding Fathers, about the precious rights we have fought at home and abroad to protect, about our democracy that considers all people as equals, and about the delicate system of checks and balances upon which all of this is based. It is a shame that Members of Congress appear to have forgotten these most basic lessons. They have forgotten that our Founding Fathers established three equal branches of government, no one more powerful than the other; they have forgotten that this system has served us well for over 200 years; and they have forgotten that this is a system that cannot survive if one branch arbitrarily strips power from another. This is not about gay marriage. This is not about respecting marriage. For the record, my marriage is not threatened by gays and lesbians in Massachusetts or California. What is the heinous crime that gays and lesbians have committed? They want to live with the same dignity that their fellow Americans live with every day. Please vote this bill down.”