Joseph Backholm: Gay Marriage Tells Fathers They Are Not Necessary

Joseph Backholm, the director of the Family Policy Institute of Washington, one of the groups working to repeal Washington state's gay marriage law, has said such marriages tell fathers that their presence is not necessary in the lives of their children.

Referendum 74 will ask voters in November to either uphold or reject the marriage equality law approved by lawmakers earlier this year.

Preserve Marriage Washington, the group running the campaign against Referendum 74, has fallen far behind supporters in terms of fundraising. The group has raised less than 10 percent of the $5.7 million banked by supporters – $400,000 to be exact.

In an interview with PubliCola, Backholm insisted that he was on the right side of history.

“We can't lose this in the long run, because the arguments on the other side are wrong in the absolute sense. We're dealing with laws that are bigger than us. The laws of the universe are not subject to legislative preference. And a hundred years from now, we won't be having a discussion about whether kids need moms and dads and whether there's a material difference between relationships involving people of the same gender or different genders. So I am not at all concerned that we are on the wrong side of history,” he said.

The argument, Backholm stated, was not “about two people.”
“We're talking about public policy. And when you make public policy you have to think in the aggregate. How does this affect our culture, how does this affect our state, how does it affect things a hundred years from now?”

And gay marriage “will have a dramatic negative impact” on culture.

“Think about it. We would be telling every father and potential father that their presence is not specifically necessary in the lives of their child. Everyone knows that that's not true, and our public policy shouldn't say that that is true.”

And while Backholm said that “gay people have the right to form whatever relationships they want,” he also rejects the state's current domestic partnership law.

“I was not supportive of that law,” he said.

Um..so he's saying we can form whatever relationships we want so long as we don't do it publicly where christian nutcases like him can see it or know anything about it.

To which I say...fuck you.