Though it passed the Colorado Civil Union Act last week in a 23-12 vote, Colorado’s State Senate was not without its vocal opponents to second-class marriage. Sen. Kevin Lundberg, a Republican, took to the Senate floor to tell everyone that enacting this piece of legislation would turn America into that awful socialist state of France, where “family” is now just some euphemism for hanging out below a bridge smoking crack. “We need not go back centuries, in fact we cannot go back centuries, because it is such a foreign concept to human experience, save the last few decades. But we do have some examples,” says Lundberg. “We can look to the nation of France, which instituted civil unions in the 1990s. We can look at some of these Scandinavian countries that have gone down this same road and what we see is not a reinforcement of marriage and the family unit. But what we see are cultures that have abandoned the family unit as a foundation of human society…This would change the very concept of what marriage is.” Here’s what “changed” in France: gay couples, what with their civil unions, are still wildly discriminated against as, you guessed it, families. And don’t worry, Lundberg: France didn’t see the need to let civil unions morph into full blown marriage rights.
the classics
CO State Sen. Kevin Lundberg Pulls The Old ‘Civil Unions Ruined France’ Argument
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EdWoody
People really do just pull this crap out of thin air, don’t they?
justiceontherocks
Sen. Lundberg: because you are so in love with the way things were back in the day, we are removing the air conditioning from your home. Have a great summer.
Soupy
The definition of a conservative is one who longs to live in the past, but a fictional, mythic past, a la Norman Rockwell.
Jim Hlavac
Since when have France or Scandinavia abandoned families? The heteros there are still getting married, and divorced at the same rate, and remarried, or single mothers or living together. Which isn’t much different than here: 95% of the people get married, and some 45% get divorced, and remarried. It’s the same 5% not getting married — mostly because we’re not allowed to. I’ve been to France, there seems to be plenty of weddings, couples, children in baby strollers being wheeled through the parks. What on earth is this man talking about? And if he’s concerned about heterosexual marriages being in decline, let him go preach to that bunch and tell them what to do right. How can stomping on gay people be the lynch pin on which all of civilization rests? The idea is preposterous.
Jay P
Well I guess technically he’s right. Marriages are on a “decline” in those countries. But in Scandinavia, that is because people opt for domestic partnerships rather than marriages, which has a religious “backwards” undertone to it. Also, their birth rate is quite low. However, none of this has to do with the gays. Its a natural part of evolution – a demographic transition that takes place as societies advance. Japan also has a decline in marriages and birthrates, but they don’t have civil unions.
And yes, its happening in the US as well, just slower because we’re special :-).
Jay P
Also, I don’t understand the “marriage is the foundation of society” argument. I don’t think our ancestors 100,000 years ago we’re adamant about marriages.
Oh wait, I mean less than 6,000 years old, when mankind played with dinosaurs.
Jeffree
Straight French couples are in fact now getting the equivalent of civil unions (PACs) more often than traditional marriage. Easier to get into, easier to get out of. This has nothing to do with the gays whatsoever.
Lundberg doesn’t realize that the marriage rate across most of western/northern Europe has been in decline for much longer than civil unions than have been available to LGB people.
BTW, where the PACs break down for gay couples isn’t taxes but child custody and adoption, because those laws are based on actual parentage. It’s the custody laws that are behind the times.
McMike
What an idiot.
In other words, “Allowing civil unions are going to turn America into a dry, dessilent land where no vegetation can grow. I mean, look at the Moon… Though I’ve never been there I’m sure allowing gays and lesbians to have civil unions has turned it into one big rock.”
Would the religious right, for once, have the arguments based in some sort of reality???
Green Marker
The number of marriages has been declining decade after decade because of women’s rights and women’s equality. Women do not need a husband to support them – they can be independent!
Lower percentage of marriages shows more respect for love in marriage because now it’s not really a means of survival.
I can’t imagine the horrible feeling of being stuck married to someone because you have no other options.
Gays have nothing to do with this. If they want “families” to go back to what they used to be they’re gonna have to take away women’s rights and equality.
Screw you Kevin Lundberg! Equal rights for everyone!!!
Schteve
Hey Senator Lundberg, you know what else are some foreign concepts if you went back centuries? Blacks marrying whites. Prison inmates marrying anyone. Women having rights separate from those of their husbands. People actually marrying for love, not just because the husband gave the wife’s father a parcel of land and a dozen cows.
Codychon
WTF!! Wait a minute Mr I-perfectly-know-what-happens-abroad. Have you ever been out of the US?
My “awful socialist” country is fine, thank you for asking.
First of all France has the highest birth rate of western Europe.
The fact is that PACS is just easier than marriage.
90% of PACS are contracted by straight couples. And I know what I’m talking about ’cause I live in France and I’m PACSé!