As California assemblymen and senators consider a “domestic partner bill,” the American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property (TFP), is joining other conservative organizations in calling for the bill’s defeat. An August 18 letter to the legislators claims the bill would not serve the interest of families or society as a whole.
The petition authored by the California Family Council and the Washington-based Family Research Council targets Assembly Bill 205 (AB 205) calling it a measure that “grants marriage status to homosexual couples in everything but name.” Moreover, the bill defies the will of the over 61 percent of California voters who enacted Proposition 22 protecting marriage and the intent of a federal law with the same purpose signed by former President Clinton.
The Family Research Council stresses the fact that traditional marriage is the bedrock of society, undergirding the very framework of any civilization. The principal purpose of marriage has always been the uniting men with women in the reproduction of the species and the joint rearing of children—a purpose that same-sex unions cannot fulfill.
The law confers benefits on marriage not because of entitlement, but because of the benefits that marriage confers upon society. Passage of AB 205 puts the desires of a small percentage of individuals above those of the vast majority of residents in California and the nation.
Opposition to AB 205 becomes all the more urgent since embattled Governor Gray Davis has promised to sign the bill into law if it reaches his desk.