1. States without a marriage amendment have had their marriage law declared unconstitutional. What unfolded in Iowa and currently is unraveling in Minnesota can happen here in Pennsylvania. Both lacked the protection of marriage in their state Constitution. A court case challenging their current marriage law was filed. In Iowa, the court then ruled that their marriage law was unconstitutional; therefore legalizing same-sex “marriage” in that state.
2. Our marriage law is being challenged by same-sex couples seeking to legalize their union. During “Marriage Equality Week” in Pennsylvania, same-sex couples from around the state went to district court offices and demanded marriage licenses. They were obviously denied but it set the scene for a lawsuit to be brought up against our current definition of marriage.
3. Our marriage law is being challenged by same-sex couples seeking a legal divorce. A same-sex couple from Berks County, married in Massachusetts and moved to our state, asked a court judge to grant them a legal divorce. This local case argued that marriage between husband and wife is unconstitutional because it “infringed on the right” of marriage.
4. Legislation has been introduced in Pennsylvania that would legalize same-sex “marriage”.  SB 935, if passed, would define marriage to be between “any two persons” and radically redefine our existing law.
5. Legislation has been introduced in Pennsylvania that would legalize civil unions. Civil unions are the equivalent of marriage, just under a different name. If passed, this provides more evidence for lawmakers and court judges to declare our current definition of marriage unconstitutional.
6. Legalizing same-sex marriage is a top priority of local organizations in Pennsylvania. Organizations such as the ACLU-PA have placed as the top priority on their “gay rights” agenda the legalization of same-sex “marriage”.
7. THIRTY other states have done it. A Marriage Protection Amendment is not ground-breaking legislation in America. 30 other states followed their constitutional amendment process. In all 30 states, voters agreed with protecting their current definition of marriage.
8. Pennsylvania’s religious institutions continue to remain vulnerable. As seen in cases such as Catholic Charities or other church groups around the country, tax-exempt status can be challenged or parts of religious operations be forced to shut down with the state redefining marriage.
9. Our children’s education remains vulnerable. The redefinition of marriage would allow Pennsylvania students as young as kindergarten to be taught about same-sex families and the homosexual lifestyle.
10. The majority of Pennsylvanians want their Constitutional right to vote on this issue. A recent statewide poll shows that an overwhelming 78% of fellow Pennsylvanians desire the opportunity to vote on the issue of defining marriage. [1]
11. Pennsylvania support for a vote on amending our Constitution crossed gender, age, racial, regional, political and ideological lines. The recent poll, affirming our past polling, has shown that we desire to see the constitutional amendment process come to fruition and bring a vote to the people on this issue.

 

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[1] The statistics on marriage are from a statewide survey of Pennsylvania registered voters conducted in October 2009 by the polling company™, inc./WomanTrend and released by The Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy.