Disgraced Prop 8 Witness Opposes NC Amendment One

David Blankenhorn leaving 9th District Court
in January, 2010 after being ripped a new one. 

This one is just too good to pass up. In an Op Ed piece in this morning's Raleigh News and Observer, David Blankenhorn, founder and president of the Institute for American Values and his wife, Elizabeth Marquardt, a NC native, have once again contradicted themselves on the subject of marriage equality by opposing Amendment One.


Blankenhorn, played with buffoonish perfection by John C. Riley in Dustin Lance Black's stage production "8", was one of only two so-called expert witnesses called by proponents of California's Prop 8 in the court challenge, Perry vs. Schwarzeneggar (now Perry vs. Brown).  The LA Times reported on the trial back in January 2010:

Under cross-examination by David Boies, an attorney for challengers of the ballot measure, Blankenhorn admitted he knew of no study that showed children reared by gay couples fared worse than those raised by heterosexual parents.

Blankenhorn also conceded that same-sex marriage would probably "improve the well-being of gay and lesbian households and their children."

A spokeswoman for proponents of Proposition 8 said she did not know the context in which Blankenhorn made the statement in his book that same-sex marriage would make the United States "more American."

Yes, you read that right. In 2007 Blankenhorn wrote in a book that the U.S. would be "more American on the day we permit same-sex marriage than we were on the day before."


This morning, The Raleigh News and Observer published a piece by Mr. and Mrs. All-Over-The-Map called, "Amendment goes too far", wherein they state their opposition to NC Amendment One. While they still maintain that marriage should be a heteros-only club, the self-contradicting duo writes:

"We believe that marriage is a uniquely important institution that unites mothers and fathers to their children.

But as marriage advocates, we oppose the state marriage amendment now being debated in North Carolina. We hope that when North Carolinians go to the polls on May 8 they will defeat this measure."

So despite being ripped to shreds on the witness stand and having no credible research to back up their claims, Blankenhorn and Marquardt continue to make their discredited arguments, under the guise of fairness. They are against Amendment One because it would ban domestic partnerships, which they see as a more "humane compromise". 

Humane? Really, Dave? What's next, mandatory spay and neuter laws for the gays? 

Thanks for your self-serving support, Dave and Liz, but we can do this without your help. 

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