Same-sex “marriages” began today in Idaho, just a day after Governor C.L. “Butch” Otter decided to not defend his state's marriage law.
Shortly after the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Idaho's 2006 marriage amendment was unconstitutional, Otter and Attorney General Lawrence Wasden said that they had exhausted all judicial options to protect the amendment. Otter said, however, that he is “not going to give up on [the amendment],” and planned to “keep on defending it.”
On Monday, Wasden said that he was looking at other options besides judicial appeals to defend marriage in his state. It was hoped that a “stay” on the Ninth Circuit's ruling would be upheld, but the Supreme Court lifted the stay last week by refusing to hear appeals on marriage cases. That left Idaho's marriage amendment up to the Ninth Circuit.
National Organization for Marriage President Brian Brown told LifeSiteNews that Otter “is missing an opportunity to stand strong with the state’s voters, who overwhelmingly voted to define marriage in their law as it has always existed in reality, the union of one man and one woman.”
A recent poll of Idaho residents by Public Policy Polling, a Democratic polling firm, found that 57 percent of Idahoans believe marriage should remain between a man and a woman in their state. Only 38 percent supported redefining marriage.
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Brown acknowledged “the situation is complicated when state officials like Attorney General Lawrence Wasden abandon their sworn oath of office to defend the laws of the land regardless of the obstacles. We realize that the fight in the Ninth Circuit is difficult, but it is incumbent on all officials to press the truth of marriage in both the court of public opinion and courts of law until the Supreme Court is forced to address this issue and uphold the right of states to define marriage as one man and one woman.”
