US: Kansas Representative claims that 70% of Americans oppose equal marriage

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The Representative for Kansas’s first congressional district has voiced his opposition to equal marriage, claiming that 70% of Americans also oppose it, and saying that Obama wants to “destroy the family.”

Speaking in an interview with Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council, Representative Tim Huelskamp blamed President Obama for his “radical social agenda”, and was heavily critical of his first term in office.

He said: “This President has a radical social agenda and the media will probably give him a pass when, instead of talking about the fact that mom and dad don’t have a job, we’re going to talk about how to destroy the family and replace it with his view of a radical new social agenda.

“So we’re going to hear a lot about that, we’re going to hear a lot of blaming and also a lot of talk about how he would solve this and that problem but gosh darn it he’s had four years to do that and he hasn’t solved one and I would argue it’s gotten progressively worse since he took office.

He went on to claim that 70% of US citizens “support traditional marriage”, suggesting that they opposed the legalisation of equal marriage.

“The response from the general leadership is: gosh, we can’t talk about social issues. But the President can? Someone has to stand up and defend the seventy percent position that most Americans support traditional marriage, most Americans understand the value of family, they understand it’s under attack and they understand that, they see it, they believe it. So we got to stand up,” he said.

He also took a swing at a recent announcement that the Pentagon is to extend some benefits to same-sex military couples, and said that gay people were “selectively rewarded” for “homosexual behaviour,” reports Right Wing Watch.

“I’ve always been confused by Republicans that refuse to support a seventy percent position and say, ‘gosh we can’t take our stand there.’ But whether it’s Obamacare, whether it’s these radical [Department of Defense] proposals coming out of the White House or changing all the employment rules to specifically and selectively reward homosexual behavior, those are really radical ideas and most Americans do not accept them.

“So we’ll have an opportunity to hear from the President but again don’t forget he is a lame duck President, he’s not running for election again and I think this could be the most radical we’ll hear from him in a long time because it is Obama unleashed. We’re going to hear tonight probably exactly what he would like to do and he promised he’s going to change America and he’s still after that agenda and that goal.”

According to a poll released in November, support for equal marriage had risen across the US to 48%, whilst opposition to it had fallen from 50 to 43%.

CNN host Soledad O’Brien last week challenged Tony Perkins when he said in an interview that he thought the Boy Scouts of American should not lift its ban on gay volunteers, members and staff, linked homosexuality with paedophilia, and claimed that it was a choice.

Soledad O’Brien asked whether Mr Perkins was worried that he would look back and think he was on “the wrong side of history” for opposing the ban on gay scouts.

Mr Perkins, previously blamed the repeal of the ban on gay service members serving openly in the US MIlitary, Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, for suicides in the US military.

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