Fair Wisconsin and our coalition partners have been working every day since January 2004 to defeat the civil unions and marriage ban, but it's been awhile since we took a step back to examine who is behind the ban. What is the agenda behind the ban? Who wrote the language? What have they said over time about what it would do?
We pulled together some audio clips and text excerpts from three key figures: Julaine Appling, the executive director of Family Research Institute of Wisconsin; Rep. Mark Gundrum (R-New Berlin), the lead Assembly author of the ban; and Sen. Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau), the lead state Senate author.
While it's critical to conduct a civil debate, it's also critical to reveal the true intentions and attitudes behind the ban. Our opposition has consistently downplayed the reach of the ban and its impact on real Wisconsin families. We must continue to fight to give accurate information to voters about this issue.
If this stuff gets you fired up, make a contribution today to help Fair Wisconsin defeat the ban by delivering accurate information to voters. Because, as Julaine Appling closes her radio broadcasts, "the Prophet Hosea said 'my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.'"
“Opponents of the measure keep saying, 'look at all the Christian churches that are supporting our position' -- which means they're against God's plan for marriage.”
- "Standing in the Gap" event in Milwaukee, August 29, 2006 at New Testament Church of Milwaukee
“We're no Missouri; we're no Mississippi; we're not Alabama and Georgia... we live in the shadow of Madison. With heavy pockets of people engaged in the behavior of homosexuality in Madison, Milwaukee, La Crosse, and other major population areas as well.”
- "Standing in the Gap" event in Milwaukee, August 29, 2006 at New Testament Church of Milwaukee
“There's no guarantee that something won't be challenged in the court... ”
- The Joy Cardin Show, Wisconsin Public Radio, August 8, 2006
“[Marriage] is not some kind of private relationship between two quote loving and committed people...”
- The Joy Cardin Show, Wisconsin Public Radio, August 8, 2006
But wait, there's more!
“The place was filled with palpable evil...it was a den of iniquity...”
- Wisconsin Family Connection, Week of August 25, 2003 referring to a hearing on the 2003 “Defense of Marriage Act”
“And after polygamy? Well, there's polyamory, or group marriage, three-way, four- way, even five-way relationships.” - Because I Don't Approve of That, Wisconsin Family Connection, Week of March 20, 2006
“What they're telling us is they are really much more interested in destroying marriage than in redefining it to include their perversion.”
- Preserving Traditional Marriage: Neither Farcical nor Fanatic, Wisconsin Family Connection, Week of October 10, 2005
The lawmakers responsible for the vague language of the civil unions and marriage ban include Sen. Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) and Rep. Mark Gundrum (R-New Berlin). Gundrum has been affiliated with the Wisconsin Marriage Defenders a group that claims gay people "will NOT stop at just homosexual marriage, they’ve admitted they want prostitution, incest, pedophilia, and other perversions to follow."
“By putting 'substantially similar,' we're asking the court to step in.”
- Fitzgerald in an interview on WIBA, March 17, 2004, when asked if the second sentence would impact domestic partner benefits
“If there are lawsuits filed in regard to it, the lawsuits are going to come down the way I'm stating they're going to come down and that's just the way the legislation's been structured and that's clear in the legislative intent as well as in the language.” - Gundrum guaranteeing he knows how courts will rule on the second sentence. Madison WISC-TV, Channel 3, Feb. 20, 2006
“I'm not looking to tailor our budgeting policy to make sure we retain left-wing social activists. I'm not losing sleep over those folks choosing to go somewhere else.”
- Gundrum after hearing that the University of Wisconsin had lost top-notch administrators and researchers over domestic partner benefits, Associated Press, March 28, 2005
Lead Authors of the Ban