Garry Breitkreuz Quotes
In the 1950s, buggery was a criminal offence. Now it's a requirement to receive benefits from the federal government.
Garry Breitkreuz, Canadian Member of Parliament (Conservative), Commenting on same sex benefits for gay couples, Quoted in The Leader-Post, March 3, 2000
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
What made this quotation very dramatic was that the state of Virginia, under the previous administration dominated by religious fundamentalists had passed a law banning same sex marriage. Several private Virginia citizens had sued the State in Federal Court, asserting that their Constitutional rights were violated by the ban. The Attorney general normally defends the state in any court proceeding. However, Herring agreed with the plaintiffs on the case, that the Virginia law was unconstitutional, so he and the State entered the case on the side of the plaintiffs and against the state law. His reference to the right side of history was related to the fact that as late as 1964 Virginia had a law prohibiting interracial marriage which they enforced and the Supreme Court invalidated. Thus, on marriage, Virginia had a track record of being on the wrong side of history and the law.
He actually proposed withholding benefits from American citizens on the grounds that they would not, in his judgment, go to Heaven. The Constitution allows no differentiation on government benefits based on likely heavenly inadmission. The vast majority of Evangelical fundamentalist Christians to not take such a position. If Klingenschmitt were not a Congressional candidate, few would pay attention to his extreme positions.
Two days earlier, New York Voted to legalize gay marriage and Alesi became the first Republican to vote for gay marriage. New York was the first state to legalize gay marriage by an act of their legislature and not by the judiciary on Constitutional grounds. Generally, most of the Republican politicians were opposed to marriage equality as they had the religious right wing of the party for whom gay marriage was anathema.
Earlier, he had opposed same sex marriage, but as the population as a whole had a change of mind on this issue, so did he. By 2013, 16 States had modified their laws to allow gay marriage.
This was an incredibly accurate prediction as 2 years thereafter, it was not only the major civil rights issue of the time, but it became a major general political and legal issue regarding the rights of states. Within year, 16 states allowed same sex marriage.
Garry W. Breitkreuz (pronounced Bright-Krites) is a Canadian politician. He was the Conservative Party of Canada member of the House of Commons of Canada for Yorkton—Melville from 1993 to 2015. He was formerly a member of the Reform Party of Canada (1993–2000) and the Canadian Alliance (2000–2003). While he had no formal position in the cabinet, as an Opposition member he was Deputy House Leader of the Opposition, Conservative Party Deputy House Leader, Deputy Whip of the Official Opposition, Chief Opposition Whip, and Critic to the Solicitor General.
