US: Florida anti-gay activist says opposing equal marriage is ‘an issue worth dying for’
A Florida anti-gay activist has claimed that his opposition to same-sex marriage is “worth dying” over.
John Stemberger, the President of Florida Family Policy Council, who leads a more homophobic alternative to the Boy Scouts, made the claim after a judge provisionally struck down a same-sex marriage ban in Monroe County, Florida.
Stemberger claimed to the Miami Herald: “This is an issue worth dying for. Every domestic partnership, every single civil union, every couple that cohabitates, these arrangements dilute and devalue marriage.”
He added: “This is a very sad day for Floridians. This is an entirely illegitimate process. The judge had no legal authority in this decision.”
Garcia’s ruling has since been stayed, halting marriages from taking place while the state’s Republican Attorney General Pam Bondi appeals.
Stemberger is the Chairman of Trail Life USA, who split away from the Boy Scouts of America when they voted to remove their ban on gay youth members and keep a ban on gay adults.
The splinter group bans youth who “promote sexual immorality of any kind, or engage in behaviour that would become a distraction to the mission of the program”.
