News
Featured Image
In a tense exchange earlier this week, 2016 Presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton made derisive comments about supporters of traditional marriage. JStone / Shutterstock.com

WASHINGTON, D.C. – In a tense exchange earlier this week, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told NPR's Terry Grossu that supporters of marriage “operate in an evidence-free zone.”

Clinton, who is the expected frontrunner for the Democratic race for the party's presidential nomination in 2016, came out in support of same-sex “marriage” last year. Grossu asked if Clinton had taken so long to do so because of public opinion, to which Clinton replied, in part, that “too many people believe they have a direct line to the divine and they never want to change their mind about anything.” She also said that the same people are “never open to new information and they like to operate in an evidence-free zone. I think it’s good if people continue to change.”

However, according to Family Research Council's Peter Sprigg, the changes supported by Clinton would be negative for America. Furthermore, Sprigg wrote, the harms of same-sex relationships go further than those based upon belief in a higher power.

Redefining marriage, said Sprigg, would send “the explicit message to society would be that there is nothing uniquely valuable about the very reproduction of the human race. This would be a shocking denial of a reality that is literally fundamental to human existence.” He said that “same-sex relationships…are intrinsically infertile and can never result in natural procreation…”

“The greatest tragedy resulting from the legalization of homosexual” relationships would be “its effect on children,” continued Sprigg. “For the first time in history, society would be placing its highest stamp of official government approval on the deliberate creation of permanently motherless or fatherless households for children.”

Thirdly, argued Sprigg, “legalization of same-sex “marriage” would reinforce a declining emphasis on procreation as a key purpose of marriage—resulting in lower birth rates than if it had not been legalized.” The United States and much of the rest of the developed world currently faces challenges when it comes to maintaining a replacement birth rate that Sprigg says would worsen with the legalization of same-sex “marriage.”

In 2012, a study by Dr. Mark Regnerus found worse results for children when comparing heterosexual parents to their homosexual counterparts. Greater odds of sexual assault and a tendency towards homosexual attractions were just two of the effects Regnerus discovered.

Clinton's comments drew criticism from many, including Heritage Foundation Research Fellow Ryan Anderson. According to Anderson, “The meaning and purpose of marriage is an important question requiring serious reflection. Answering it correctly is important, but we should not demonize our opponents.”

The remarks about changing minds on marriage come just six months after “Duck Dynasty's” Phil Robertson was suspended from the show for opposing same-sex relationships. A few months later, former Mozilla CEO Brendan Eich was forced out of his job for a $1,000 donation to Proposition 8 six years ago. And a baker in Colorado is fighting a court order declaring he must violate his conscience when it comes to cakes for same-sex “weddings.”

During her tenure as Secretary of State, Clinton often drew criticism from pro-family advocates for positions taken by the U.S. In 2012, the U.S. embassy in the Czech Republic participated in a gay “pride” parade. And in 2011, Lady Gaga played at a “Euro Pride” parade after the U.S. embassy in Rome “played an instrumental role” in getting Gaga to Italy.

A couple of months ago Clinton herself claimed to have a relationship to a ‘divine’ power.  In her recent address to the United Methodist Women Assembly she said of her family as she grew up, “We talked with God, walked with God, ate, studied and argued with God.” 

To listen to the NPR exchange click play: