Gay Rights Foe Marsha Blackburn Reelected to Congress From Tennessee

Antigay congresswoman Marsha Blackburn has been reelected from Tennessee's seventh district, defeating two challengers, Scott Beasley and Pat Riley.

Blackburn, a Republican, was one of 39 members of Congress who attempted to overturn marriage equality in Washington, D.C. And Blackburn cochaired the committee that drafted this year’s national Republican platform, considered the most antigay in history. Platform contributor Tony Perkins, president of the virulently homophobic Family Research Council, boasted of his friendship with Blackburn as key to getting so much of his hateful language adopted. Among other things, the platform says, “The court-ordered redefinition of marriage in several States … is an assault on the foundations of our society, challenging the institution which, for thousands of years in virtually every civilization, has been entrusted with the rearing of children and the transmission of cultural values.” Such an “activist judiciary,” it says, is “a serious threat to our country’s constitutional order, perhaps even more dangerous than presidential malfeasance.” And President Obama’s gay-friendly policies, including his administration’s decision to stop defending the Defense of Marriage Act in court, amount to “a mockery of the President’s inaugural oath.”