{"id":2441,"date":"2013-02-28T07:08:00","date_gmt":"2013-02-28T07:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/news\/obama-officials-republican-group-advocate-gay-marriage\/"},"modified":"2013-02-28T07:08:00","modified_gmt":"2013-02-28T07:08:00","slug":"obama-officials-republican-group-advocate-gay-marriage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2013\/02\/obama-officials-republican-group-advocate-gay-marriage\/","title":{"rendered":"Obama officials, Republican group advocate ‘gay marriage’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Washington D.C., Feb 28, 2013 \/ 12:08 am (CNA<\/a>).- Both President Barack Obama\u2019s administration and a group of Republican officials have filed briefs with the U.S. Supreme Court calling for marriage to be redefined to include same-sex partners.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cLike a lot of the country, my views have evolved on this from the first day I set foot in Congress,\u201d said former U.S. Representative Deborah Pryce (R-Ohio).<\/p>\n

\tOn Feb. 25, a group of over 70 Republican leaders and public figures filed a \u201cfriend of the court\u201d brief on the upcoming Supreme Court case regarding California\u2019s Proposition 8, a state constitutional amendment that banned gay marriage within California.<\/p>\n

\tThe brief\u2019s position contradicts the official Republican Party platform, which reaffirmed its stance that marriage is \u201ca union of one man and one woman\u201d in Aug. 2012.<\/p>\n

\tThe brief was organized by Ken Mehlman, former chairman of the Republican National Committee, and will be filed on March 1.<\/p>\n

\tThe Obama administration also voiced its support of same-sex \u201cmarriage\u201d through a brief opposing the Defense of Marriage Act, a 1996 federal law that affirmed marriage as a union between a man and a woman for purposes of federal grants, benefits and tax information.<\/p>\n

\tOral arguments in both cases will be heard before the Supreme Court in March 2013 following challenges to their constitutionality. The court cases are expected to be \u201clandmark\u201d decisions that will define the way marriage is understood within the United States.<\/p>\n

\tThe Department of Justice, the branch of the president\u2019s administration filing the brief, claimed that the Defense of Marriage Act was \u201cdiscriminatory\u201d against a \u201cdiscrete minority class of homosexuals.\u201d The department claimed that homosexual individuals have been historically discriminated against, that they are \u201ca minority group with limited political power.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tIn addition, it asserted that an \u201cexpert consensus\u201d exists saying that children of same-sex parents do not differ from biological and opposite-sex parents. This claim contradicts a study published by University of Texas-Austin researcher Mark Regnerus in 2012 noting various disadvantages faced by children raised by same-sex parents.<\/p>\n

\tThe department added that the federal government does not have an interest in promoting traditional marriage, even if it does value the traditional institution.<\/p>\n

\tQuoting decisions by other courts, the brief stated that the \u201cancient lineage of a legal concept does not give a law immunity from attack\u201d and claimed that the federal interest in protecting a traditional view of marriage cannot be achieved through the Defense of Marriage Act \u201cbecause the decision of whether same-sex couples can marry is left to the states.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tThose who oppose a redefinition of marriage argue that governments have traditionally been involved in regulating marriage as the union of one man and one woman because this is the only type of union that can produce children.<\/p>\n

\tThey say that government has an interest in promoting the well-being of society\u2019s future generations by encouraging stable households in which children are raised by their biological parents whenever possible.<\/p>\n

\tIn May 2012, President Obama announced that his positions on \u201cgay marriage\u201d had \u201cevolved\u201d and that he supported the recognition of same-sex partnerships as marriage, contradicting his statements during the 2008 election.<\/p>\n

\tRepublicans who signed the brief opposing Proposition 8 referenced a shift in popular opinion as a motivating factor for their change in position, despite recent moves in numerous states to reaffirm marriage as the union of man and woman.<\/p>\n

\tSteve Schmidt, a signer of the brief and former senior advisor to John McCain\u2019s 2008 presidential campaign, argued that the \u201cdie is cast on this issue.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n<\/a>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Washington D.C., Feb 28, 2013 \/ 12:08 am (CNA).- Both President Barack Obama’s administration and a group of Republican officials have filed briefs with the U.S. Supreme Court calling for marriage to be redefined to include same-sex partners.<\/p>\n

\t&…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1031,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-us"],"yoast_head":"\nObama officials, Republican group advocate 'gay marriage'<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Washington D.C., Feb 28, 2013 \/ 12:08 am (CNA).- Both President Barack Obama’s administration and a group of Republican officials have filed briefs with the U.S. Supreme Court calling for marriage to be redefined to include same-sex partners. &...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2013\/02\/obama-officials-republican-group-advocate-gay-marriage\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Obama officials, Republican group advocate 'gay marriage'\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Washington D.C., Feb 28, 2013 \/ 12:08 am (CNA).- Both President Barack Obama’s administration and a group of Republican officials have filed briefs with the U.S. Supreme Court calling for marriage to be redefined to include same-sex partners. &...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2013\/02\/obama-officials-republican-group-advocate-gay-marriage\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Catholic News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-02-28T07:08:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/catholicnewsagency\/dailynews?d=yIl2AUoC8zA\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"CNA Daily News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"CNA Daily News\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2013\/02\/obama-officials-republican-group-advocate-gay-marriage\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2013\/02\/obama-officials-republican-group-advocate-gay-marriage\/\",\"name\":\"Obama officials, Republican group advocate 'gay marriage'\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-02-28T07:08:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-02-28T07:08:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1\"},\"description\":\"Washington D.C., Feb 28, 2013 \/ 12:08 am (CNA).- Both President Barack Obama’s administration and a group of Republican officials have filed briefs with the U.S. Supreme Court calling for marriage to be redefined to include same-sex partners. &...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2013\/02\/obama-officials-republican-group-advocate-gay-marriage\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2013\/02\/obama-officials-republican-group-advocate-gay-marriage\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2013\/02\/obama-officials-republican-group-advocate-gay-marriage\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Obama officials, Republican group advocate ‘gay marriage’\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/\",\"name\":\"Catholic News\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1\",\"name\":\"CNA Daily News\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"CNA Daily News\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/author\/cna-daily-news\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Obama officials, Republican group advocate 'gay marriage'","description":"Washington D.C., Feb 28, 2013 \/ 12:08 am (CNA).- Both President Barack Obama’s administration and a group of Republican officials have filed briefs with the U.S. Supreme Court calling for marriage to be redefined to include same-sex partners. &...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2013\/02\/obama-officials-republican-group-advocate-gay-marriage\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Obama officials, Republican group advocate 'gay marriage'","og_description":"Washington D.C., Feb 28, 2013 \/ 12:08 am (CNA).- Both President Barack Obama’s administration and a group of Republican officials have filed briefs with the U.S. Supreme Court calling for marriage to be redefined to include same-sex partners. &...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2013\/02\/obama-officials-republican-group-advocate-gay-marriage\/","og_site_name":"Catholic News","article_published_time":"2013-02-28T07:08:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/catholicnewsagency\/dailynews?d=yIl2AUoC8zA"}],"author":"CNA Daily News","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"CNA Daily News","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2013\/02\/obama-officials-republican-group-advocate-gay-marriage\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2013\/02\/obama-officials-republican-group-advocate-gay-marriage\/","name":"Obama officials, Republican group advocate 'gay marriage'","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-02-28T07:08:00+00:00","dateModified":"2013-02-28T07:08:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1"},"description":"Washington D.C., Feb 28, 2013 \/ 12:08 am (CNA).- Both President Barack Obama’s administration and a group of Republican officials have filed briefs with the U.S. Supreme Court calling for marriage to be redefined to include same-sex partners. &...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2013\/02\/obama-officials-republican-group-advocate-gay-marriage\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2013\/02\/obama-officials-republican-group-advocate-gay-marriage\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2013\/02\/obama-officials-republican-group-advocate-gay-marriage\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Obama officials, Republican group advocate ‘gay marriage’"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/","name":"Catholic News","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/35d4bd7addc580050842c844a11575f1","name":"CNA Daily News","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8f1180c7dca7995d4a997aac72a3a88a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"CNA Daily News"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/author\/cna-daily-news\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2441","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1031"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2441"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2441\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}