Michigan attorney general vows appeal of Friedman's decision to 6th Circuit

Detroit — Saying it "strikes at the very essence of family, community and human nature," the bishops of Michigan's seven dioceses issued a joint statement March 21 after U.S. Judge Bernard Friedman's decision to overturn Michigan's constitutional amendment defining marriage as between one man and one woman.

"Marriage is and can only ever be a unique relationship solely between one man and one woman, regardless of the decision of a judge or future electoral vote," the bishops said, because “nature itself, not society, religion or government, created marriage."

Friedman's ruling Friday afternoon came two weeks after the close of a federal trial in downtown Detroit in which two Hazel Park women challenged the state's ban on same-sex marriage, as well as a related law that prohibited same-sex couples from adopting each other's children. The women, Jayne Rowse and April DeBoer, originally sought only to challenge the adoption ban, but later broadened their suit to include the marriage amendment at Friedman's urging. Friedman also struck down Michigan’s adoption ban.

Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette, whose office defended the laws in court, vowed immediately afterward to appeal the decision to the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati. The attorney general also filed an immediate request for a stay of Friedman’s decision with the 6th Circuit. On Saturday, the appeals court granted a temporary stay until March 26 until it can decide whether to issue a longer one. The lawyer for DeBoer and Rowse has until March 25 to file a response to Schuette's motion.

Schuette's quick appeal earned praise from the Michigan Catholic Conference on Monday.

“The state attorney general has vowed to defend the constitution and we are thankful for his efforts to uphold the natural definition of marriage between one man and one woman," said Paul A. Long, president and CEO of the conference. "We hold that the institution of marriage was ordained by God through nature, therefore no appointed judge, elected official or electoral vote has the right to redefine what it did not create."

Meanwhile, several county clerks began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples Saturday before the temporary stay was issued.

Michigan's bishops, writing under the Michigan Catholic Conference, said the ruling, which overturned the vote of a majority in the state who passed the constitutional amendment in 2004, was an attempt to alter a reality that at its essence is unchangeable.

"Nature, the very essence of humanity as understood through historical experience and reason, is the arbiter of marriage, and we uphold this truth for the sake of the common good," the bishops said. "The biological realities of male and female and the complementarity they each bring to marriage uniquely allows for the procreation of children."

The bishops reiterated, however, that "persons with same-sex attractions should not be judged, but rather accepted with respect, compassion and sensitivity.” They also added that while it is a reality that today many children grow up without a mother or a father in single-parent households and that single parents "deserve our constant support and encouragement," nevertheless, only with both a mother and a father can a child find the family structure to which he or she by birth has a right.

"Every child has a right to both a mother and a father and, indeed, every child does have lineage to both," the bishops said.

They added they will continue to support the efforts of Schuette and others to appeal Friedman's "most regrettable ruling." The Michigan Catholic Conference, the public policy advocacy arm of the Catholic Church in the state, has worked closely with Schuette to this point in supporting the state's case.

In a separate statement issued shortly after the ruling, Detroit Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron said the Church will continue to uphold the true meaning and reality of marriage.

"As I said with my brother bishops in Michigan, marriage has come to us as a gift of God in establishing the order of nature,” the archbishop said. “The Catholic community in southeast Michigan will continue to give witness to the truth that marriage is between one man and one woman, which is the foundation for the flourishing of society."

During the bench trial, Friedman heard two weeks of arguments from either side of the debate. A central theme was whether children fare better in households with a mother and a father, with either side presenting expert witnesses. Supporters of the 2004 amendment argued that the historical precedent of marriage being between a man and woman in virtually every society meant that not enough data was available to show how children in same-sex households fare in the long-term.

Above all, the bishops urged prayers for those who find themselves "struggling in good conscience to live in harmony with the Church’s teaching about sexuality" and said they "rejoice with those brothers and sisters in Christ living with same-sex attraction who have found great freedom through Jesus's call to chastity communicated through the Church."

The bishops' statement was signed by Archbishop Vigneron, Bishop Paul Bradley of Kalamazoo, Bishop Earl Boyea of Lansing, Bishop Joseph Cistone of Saginaw, Bishop John Doerfler of Marquette, Bishop David Walkowiak of Grand Rapids, and Msgr. Francis Murphy, administrator of the Diocese of Gaylord.