5 reactions to Biden signing gay marriage bill: ‘Landmark moment’ or ‘dark day’?
Family Research Council
Tony Perkins, president of the Washington-based Christian conservative activist organization Family Research Council, said the bill's signing marked "a dark day," calling the bill "one of the greatest assaults on religious freedom in modern history."
"The principles of our First Freedom, guaranteed in our Constitution, that [the president] swore to 'preserve, protect and defend,' are now in even greater jeopardy," said Perkins in a statement.
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"In signing the (Dis)Respect For Marriage Act into law, Biden has succumbed to the temporal forces of the culture rather than the transcendent principles of our nation's Constitution."
Perkins further argued that traditional marriage "is an institution created by God for the well-being of men, women, children, and society as a whole — it cannot be redesigned without impoverishing them all."
Critics have complained that the law doesn't go far enough to protect the religious consciences of business owners — such as bakers, florists, photographers and others who provided wedding-related services — considering legal battles involving such businesses have made their way to the Supreme Court in recent years.
While three proposed religious freedom amendments were shot down in the Senate, senators agreed to add an amendment to the bill protecting the religious freedom rights of explicitly religious organizations. Some conservative senators, including Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, believe the religious freedom protections added to the bill are "woefully insufficient."
