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Marriage Equality

WATCH: Ted Olson Takes on Tony Perkins on 'Evil' Marriage Equality

WATCH: Ted Olson Takes on Tony Perkins on 'Evil' Marriage Equality

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Antigay leader Tony Perkins calls same-sex marriage the 'evil bidding' of courts; Ted Olson counters as a strong voice for equality.

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Today on Fox News Sunday, antigay activist Tony Perkins said the Supreme Court has allowed lower courts to "do their evil bidding" by letting stand several appellate courts' pro-marriage equality rulings last week.

"The effect of this is the court did a back-alley type Roe v. Wade judicial decision by letting the lower courts do their evil bidding," Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, told host Chris Wallace. "The court has lit the fuse to a powder keg culturally that is going to have ramifications for years to come in this nation."

Ted Olson, one of the attorneys who successfully argued the cases against California's anti-equality Proposition 8 and Virginia's ban on same-sex marriage, appeared with Perkins and repeatedly challenged his assertions about the supposed negative effects of allowing same-sex couples to marry.

"There's no heterosexual couple that is going to decide to get a divorce or not get married or not raise children just because another couple next to them is treated equally and with respect," Olson said. He also questioned Perkins's prediction about a "powder keg," noting that a majority of the millennial generation supports equal marriage rights.

Perkins returned to an argument frequently used by marriage equality opponents, that marriage should be limited it opposite-sex couples because it's "for the protection of children." Olson responded strongly, saying, "There are thousands and tens of thousands of children in same-sex marriage households. They deserve the right to equality and same respect and decency that other people have."

Watch the two debate social science, so-called judicial activism, and more in the segment below.

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Trudy Ring

Trudy Ring is The Advocate’s senior politics editor and copy chief. She has been a reporter and editor for daily newspapers and LGBTQ+ weeklies/monthlies, trade magazines, and reference books. She is a political junkie who thinks even the wonkiest details are fascinating, and she always loves to see political candidates who are groundbreaking in some way. She enjoys writing about other topics as well, including religion (she’s interested in what people believe and why), literature, theater, and film. Trudy is a proud “old movie weirdo” and loves the Hollywood films of the 1930s and ’40s above all others. Other interests include classic rock music (Bruce Springsteen rules!) and history. Oh, and she was a Jeopardy! contestant back in 1998 and won two games. Not up there with Amy Schneider, but Trudy still takes pride in this achievement.
Trudy Ring is The Advocate’s senior politics editor and copy chief. She has been a reporter and editor for daily newspapers and LGBTQ+ weeklies/monthlies, trade magazines, and reference books. She is a political junkie who thinks even the wonkiest details are fascinating, and she always loves to see political candidates who are groundbreaking in some way. She enjoys writing about other topics as well, including religion (she’s interested in what people believe and why), literature, theater, and film. Trudy is a proud “old movie weirdo” and loves the Hollywood films of the 1930s and ’40s above all others. Other interests include classic rock music (Bruce Springsteen rules!) and history. Oh, and she was a Jeopardy! contestant back in 1998 and won two games. Not up there with Amy Schneider, but Trudy still takes pride in this achievement.