WASHINGTON, June 21 Family Research Council President Tony Perkins released the following statement in response to the Obama Administration's plans to force private employers to extend benefits to homosexual couples under the 1993 Family and Medical Leave Act:
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"The Obama Administration continues to defy federal law and exceed the limits of its constitutional authority by extending benefits to homosexual couples that have not been authorized by law, and that in fact are forbidden by the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). Their recent extensions of some benefits to homosexual partners of federal employees violated the spirit if not the letter of DOMA.
"However, the application of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) to homosexual partners and their households is even more outrageous. Families are formed only by blood, legal marriage (which under the federal DOMA means only the union of a man and a woman), or by legal adoption. Furthermore, the DOMA expressly forbids treating same-sex partners as 'spouses' under federal law.
"Furthermore, this latest action would for the first time force private employers in all fifty states -- even those which have amended their constitution to forbid legal recognition of same-sex relationships -- to extend benefits to just those relationships. Only Congress has the power to work such a dramatic change in the meaning of the FMLA.
"President Obama cannot continue to ignore the law and the Constitution and legislate from the White House in order to pander to his left-wing constituency. If the President can continue to defy the rule of law as it pertains to marriage, which is the cornerstone of society, what will be next?
"Once these rules are proposed, Family Research Council will join with our allies to speak out during the comment period on behalf of employers who will be impacted. We will also work to support those who will challenge this in court."
SOURCE Family Research Council
