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South Carolina bill targets same-sex marriage

Any union not between a man and woman would be a "parody marriage."

February 21, 2018 at 3:56AM

A bill introduced by Republicans in South Carolina this month would define any same-sex union as a “parody marriage.” (The Minnesota Star Tribune)

COLUMBIA, S.C. – The day after Valentine's Day, six South Carolina legislators introduced a bill in the state House that would amend the definition of what constitutes marriage in the Palmetto State.

The "Marriage and Constitution Restoration Act" would draw a line between what its sponsors deem is "marriage" and what is considered "parody marriage."

According to the bill, " 'parody marriage' means any form of marriage that does not involve one man and one woman. 'Marriage' means a union of one man and one woman."

By that definition, any same-sex marriage would be a "parody marriage." That wasn't well received by Jeff March, president of SC Pride.

"Pure prejudice is what that is. Pure outright prejudice," March said, according to WACH, the Fox affiliate in Columbia.

The bill, sponsored by six Republicans, would "prohibit the state from respecting, endorsing, or recognizing any 'parody marriage' policy or policies that treat sexual orientation as a suspect class; and for other purposes," according to its summary on scstatehouse.gov.

Essentially, the bill would make it so South Carolina would not legally recognize any marriage not between one man and one woman.

"It's true that people can do whatever they want in their own homes, but they can't force that on the state," said state Rep. Steven Wayne Long, according to WACH.

The bill goes on to read, "Marriage between a man and a woman arose out of the nature of things and marriage between a man and a woman is natural, neutral, and noncontroversial, unlike parody forms of marriage."

The sponsors of the bill argue that "parody marriages" and "sexual orientation policies" have created a legal mess for the state of South Carolina and that they have turned into a "legal weapon" being used against people who object to same-sex marriages.

They go on to say that while there has been no "land rush on gay marriage," it has had other detrimental effects, specifically, "the persecution of nonobservers," and an effort by believers and practitioners of "parody marriage" to "infiltrate and indoctrinate minors in public schools to their religious world view, which is questionably moral, plausible, obscene."