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News Release Archives 2010- Part I
News Release
For Immediate Release: April 22, 2010
Contact: Diane Gramley 1.814.271.9078 or 1.814.437.5355
Planned Parenthood Continues to Target Teens
(Harrisburg) – Planned Parenthood of Central Pennsylvania is participating in the “Get Yourself Talking Now, Get Yourself Tested Now” campaign supposedly to educate teens on the dangers of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and the need to be tested. The American Family Association of Pennsylvania (AFA of PA), a statewide pro-family group, questions Planned Parenthood’s motives and notes the targeting of teens and young adults is the same strategy their founder, Margaret Sanger, employed.
“Sanger knew that by lowering the expectations that teens and young adults remain abstinent until marriage there would be an increase in sexual activity thus justifying her call for birth control. In reality, that strategy has resulted in increased out-of-wed-lock births and abortions and the great increase in preventable sexually transmitted diseases among America’s younger generations,” asserted Diane Gramley, president of the AFA of PA.
Prior to 1960 there were only two common STDs – gonorrhea and syphilis – both of which could be easily treated by penicillin. Prior to 1960 most teens and young adults across ethnic and socioeconomic lines did not engage in sexual activity until after marriage. Remaining abstinent until marriage was the norm; now with the help of Planned Parenthood’s promotion of comprehensive sex ed and the overall sexualizing of America’s culture, we are paying the price in damaged lives of young people both here in Pennsylvania and across the nation.
Planned Parenthood has fulfilled Margaret Sanger’s dream by many methods. One was outlined in their March 2010 newsletter where it promoted the comic book style video game “Adventures in Sex City.” Another is by the promotion of the homosexual lifestyle through their Out for Health Project.
“Planned Parenthood’s policies continue to encourage youth to become sexually active and this has caused a devastating epidemic of sexually transmitted disease – an epidemic of ruined young lives that could be prevented through abstinence. History has shown it works. Planned Parenthood should be urging youth to get talking about abstinence now and then there’d be no necessity for testing now,” Gramley noted.
From the Black Genocide website:
From the beginning,
Sanger’s advocacy of sex education reflected her interest in population
control and birth prevention among the "unfit." Her first handbook,
published for adolescents in 1915 and entitled, What Every Boy and Girl
Should Know, featured a jarring afterword:
It is a vicious cycle; ignorance breeds poverty
and poverty breeds ignorance. There is only one cure for both, and that is
to stop breeding these things.
"Instead of laying down hard and fast rules of sexual conduct," Sanger wrote in her 1922 book Pivot of Civilization, "sex can be rendered effective and valuable only as it meets and satisfies the interests and demands of the pupil himself."
A Sanger biographer, David M. Kennedy, said her primary goal was to "increase the quantity and quality of sexual relationships." The birth control movement, she said, freed the mind from "sexual prejudice and taboo, by demanding the frankest and most unflinching re-examination of sex in its relation to human nature and the basis of human society.
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News Release
For Immediate Release: April 15, 2010
Contact: Diane Gramley 1.814.271.9078 or 1.814.437.5355
AFA of PA Joins National Coalition Advocating Day of Silence Walkout
(Harrisburg) – Friday is the Gay Day of Silence in many schools across Pennsylvania. The Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network (GLSEN), the chief organizer of the event, is encouraging students to participate by remaining silent during the school day supposedly to promote safe schools for students who identify as homosexual. However, the primary reason for the day of activism is to validate and affirm the homosexual, bisexual and transgender lifestyles. The American Family Association of Pennsylvania (AFA of PA), a statewide traditional values group, has joined a national coalition of pro-family organizations asking parents to take action to protect their children from this indoctrination. Each of the coalition members advocates for safe learning environments for ALL students not singling out certain groups.
“The Day of Silence is a day in which the classroom is politicized. Parents do not send their children to school to be taught the erroneous message that ‘gay is okay.’ This day is a total waste of taxpayer dollars,” commented Diane Gramley, president of the AFA of PA.
The coalition members are asking parents to keep their children home from school on the 16th if their child’s school will be permitting students to remain silent during instructional time. In the past it has been noted that some schools even permitted teachers to remain silent during instructional time on the Day of Silence!
Parents who plan to keep their child home are asked to let the school know why. One way to do that is to use the Sample Call Out Letter to Schools which is provided on the Coalition website.
“Children can be better educated at home on April 16th if their school is going to be busy advocating the promotion of homosexuality as a safe alternative lifestyle. Schools need to understand their responsibility is the teaching of academics and not the promotion of dangerous lifestyles,” Gramley further noted.
Controversy has surrounded GLSEN and its founder Kevin Jennings since its inception. Many have believed GLSEN’s purpose was to indoctrinate school children that homosexuality was normal and that the vehicle used was the “safety” mantra. Recently a 1995 speech by Jennings was uncovered. In it he admitted that the rhetoric about “safety” was a political device, saying that it “threw our opponents on the defensive, and stole their best line of attack. This framing short-circuited their arguments and left them back-pedaling.”
In a 1997 speech he embraced the idea of actively “promoting” homosexuality, looking forward to a day when “people, when they would hear that someone was promoting homosexuality, would say, ‘Yeah, who cares?’” And an unsigned article on the GLSEN website in 2000 declared, “The pursuit of safety and affirmation are one and the same goal.”
In his 2002 book, Always My Child, Jennings advocated schools adopting a "diversity policy that mandates including LGBT [lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered] themes into the curriculum.")
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News Release
For Immediate Release: March 26, 2010
Contact: Diane Gramley 1.814.271.9078 or 1.814.437.5355
Judge Makes Right Decision in “Same-sex Divorce”
(Harrisburg) – Today a traditional values organization commended the recent decision of Berks County Judge Scott Lash in denying the divorce of a lesbian couple who “married” in Massachusetts last June. The American Family Association of Pennsylvania (AFA of PA), a statewide group, recognizes the danger to traditional marriage in Pennsylvania if the judge had reached another decision.
“This tactic is one that the AFA of PA warned about back in 2004 when Massachusetts redefined marriage to include same-sex couples. Homosexual activists who have traveled to a state or country that permits so-called same-sex marriage will increasingly challenge their home state’s marriage laws, ” noted Diane Gramley, president of the organization.
The ultimate goal of homosexual activists is to redefine marriage in their image and they will seek an activist court to fulfill their dream. Such a fulfillment would turn into a nightmare for the majority of Pennsylvania voters who understand that marriage is only between one man and one woman. Judge Lash recognized this when he wrote in Kern v. Taney “This is a plea for social change, which plea implicitly recognizes that same-sex relationships cannot fall within the purview of a traditional marriage. If homosexuals had a fundamental right to be married to each other, this plea would be unnecessary."
Judge Lash also posed two questions: 1.) whether the right privacy bestowed on consenting adults guarantees the right to marriage and 2.) whether the fundamental right of marriage contemplates same-sex marriages.
“There have always been restrictions in marriage laws – father cannot marry daughter, brother cannot marry sister, first cousins cannot marry. These opposite sex relationships are illegal and the very concept of same-sex marriage is so unnatural that the writers of the laws did not believe it necessary to address such a relationship,” further commented Gramley.
It will be interesting to see the next legal steps taken by this lesbian who is seeking a ‘divorce’ from her partner. If she seeks an appeal rather than take Judge Lash’s advice to ask the court to have the ‘marriage’ declared void, it will expose her true agenda in forcing the redefinition of marriage in Pennsylvania.”
“It is refreshing to see a judge take the separation of powers seriously. It is not his job to redefine our marriage laws and he knows it. Additionally, he was right when he wrote that any court that takes those steps is trumping democracy by judicial fiat,” Gramley concluded.
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News Release
For Immediate Release: March 24, 2010
Contact: Diane Gramley 1.814.437.5355 or 1.814.271.9078
Four PA Elected Officials Play Part in Sham of Executive Order Signing
(Harrisburg) - Today President Obama signed the Executive Order that supposedly would prevent the use of taxpayer dollars to fund abortion. Obama, a usual ‘media hog,’ signed the order behind closed doors without the presence of media. The American Family Association of Pennsylvania (AFA of PA), a statewide traditional values group, noted that Senator Bob Casey, Jr. and three of Pennsylvania’s Congressmen (Carney, Dahlkemper and Doyle) were among the fourteen invited guests.
“Four of Pennsylvania’s so-call pro-life Democratic politicians took part in this effort to further mislead Americans who truly oppose abortion. If this executive order was really a means to stop federal health care dollars from being spent on abortion, why would Planned Parenthood applaud the passage of the bill? If this signature really meant something why not celebrate it before the world?“ asked Diane Gramley, president of the AFA of PA.
Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood, said in a statement released shortly after passage that stopping the Stupak amendment was their top priority. The pro-abortion organization was ecstatic about the additional funding they would receive upon passage in the Senate.
“This executive order is simply words void of meaning placed on a blank piece of paper for a feel good affect. An executive order cannot trump federal law. Obama’s signature on the health care bill yesterday made it the law of the land, not this meaningless executive order witnessed by politicians who are so desperately trying to hide behind it,” Gramley further stated.
The inclusion of mention of the Hyde Amendment and the Weldon and Church Amendments carry no weight. These amendments only apply to funds appropriated under the Labor, Health and Human Services (LHHS) appropriations bill. The abortion funding provisions in the new health care law and the lack of conscience protections do not come under the umbrella of the LHHS appropriations bill. In addition, the existence of the Hyde Amendment and the Church and Weldon Amendment are dependent on re-authorization every year by Congress.
The Executive Order is simply a mirage created for desperate politicians looking for political cover so they can claim they did not vote for abortion -- totally ignoring the truth.
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News Release
For Immediate Release: March 11, 2010
Contact: Diane Gramley 1.814.271.9078 or 1.814.437.5355
State Rep Babette Josephs’ Criticism of AFA of PA is Unfounded
(Harrisburg) – Last month during the annual ‘Freedom to Marry Week” 25 homosexual activists and their allies held a rally in the Capitol Rotunda in Harrisburg. The rally was held to show support for Senator Daylin Leach’s bill to legalize same-sex marriage in Pennsylvania. In response to the rally the American Family Association of PA (AFA of PA), a statewide traditional values group, issued a news release addressing some of the dangers associated with engaging in homosexual acts and the problems with legalizing so-called same sex marriage. State Representative Babette Josephs, a participant in the rally, has taken exception to those claims and has herself issued a news release in response.
“Representative Josephs, an outspoken supporter of so-called homosexual marriage and special rights for homosexuals, apparently did not read our news release thoroughly as she has misrepresented what the AFA of PA said. We did not pull the HIV/AIDS statistics out of thin air, but simply quoted data from the Centers for Disease Control. Additionally, we quoted homosexual activist Matt Foreman, former executive director of the Gay and Lesbian Task Force, when HE called AIDS a ‘gay disease.” The remarks contained in our news release were not homophobic in nature, but stated the facts,” noted Diane Gramley, president of the AFA of PA.
The AFA of PA agrees with Representative Josephs that AIDS is a “horrible disease,” but her actions do not show her compassion for those who suffer with HIV/AIDS. A compassionate society and her lawmakers would not validate a lifestyle through force of law that negatively impacts and kills so many. There’s a good reason why the FDA refuses to allow men who have sex with men to donate blood.
In 1996 the 104th Congress understood the importance of marriage between one man and one woman as a foundational block to society. The Defense of Marriage Act was introduced and passed, “To define and protect the institution of marriage.” The negative impact of same-sex marriage on the Netherlands is not questioned.
“The AFA of PA urges Representative Josephs to thoroughly read the information provided in our February 9th news release. Our hope is that she will objectively look at the facts and not ignore them as those pushing for the normalization of this dangerous lifestyle are inclined to do,” concluded Gramley.
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News Release
For Immediate Release: February 17, 2010
Contact: Diane Gramley 1.814.271.9078 or 1.814.437.5355
PA Human Relations Commission Failed in Gettysburg Case, Where was Chairman Stephen Glassman?
(Harrisburg) – Earlier this month members of the PA Human Relations Commission (PHRC) met with Gettysburg business owners, the Gettysburg Area Retail Merchants Association, the Gettysburg-Adams Chamber of Commerce and the Gettysburg Convention and Visitors Bureau. The round table discussion, hosted by State Rep. Dan Moul, was to address the mounting number of Americans With Disabilities Act complaints filed against downtown Gettysburg businesses who face mounting legal costs and the possibility of forced closure. The PHRC acknowledged they had failed to follow through on their responsibility to handle the complaints, filed two years ago, in a timely fashion. In a faxed statement to Congressman Todd Russell Platts, State Senator Richard Alloway, State Representative Dan Maul, the Borough of Gettysburg, and others involved, the American Family Association of Pennsylvania (AFA of PA), a statewide pro-family group, questioned the priorities of Stephen Glassman, the Chairman of the PA Human Relations Commission.
“Glassman has been traveling the state since he became chairman of the PA Human Relations Commission several years ago pushing his own agenda. Apparently he has been too busy pushing state and local municipalities to change their laws to include ‘actual or perceived sexual orientation and gender identity’ that he has neglected his Commission’s legal responsibilities which have nothing to do with the normalization of homosexuality,” noted Diane Gramley, president of the AFA of PA.
The fax included information about Glassman’s efforts and questioned his priorities. Some of that information included him speaking at homosexual activists’ rallies and seminars working to get sexual orientation and gender identity language added to the PA Human Relations Act and others to oppose the Marriage Protection Amendment. His efforts to travel the state to ‘encourage’ local municipalities to add the sexual orientation language to their ordinances was also exposed, as well as his participation in ‘gay’ pride parades and same-sex commitment ceremonies.
“Has Glassman failed to fulfill his duties as the chairman of the PA Human Relations Commission while ignoring the blight of some like the business owners in Gettysburg? The record seems to speak for itself,” Gramley further stated.
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News Release
For Immediate Release: February 9, 2010
Contact: Diane Gramley 1.814.437.5355 or 1.814.271.9078
Homosexual Activists Ignore the Fact That They Can Marry
(Harrisburg) The American Family Association of Pennsylvania (AFA of PA), a statewide traditional values organization, noted the oxymoronic nature of “Freedom to Marry Week” which is observed Valentine Week to bring attention to the supposed ‘second-class citizenship’ of homosexuals in America. In years past homosexuals partners have gone to county courthouses and attempted to obtain marriage licenses in a public show of their attempt to overturn existing marriage laws.
“As the supporters of same-sex marriage including politicians like Senator Daylin Leach and State Representative Babette Josephs gathered in Harrisburg yesterday to participate in the same-sex ‘marriage’ rally, they ignore the destructive nature of the lifestyle they are promoting,” commented Diane Gramley, President of the AFA of PA.
Senator Leach, the prime sponsor of a bill to legalize same-sex marriage in Pennsylvania, and others who support the unnatural union of same-sex individuals ignore the facts:
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· the majority of Americans understand marriage to be the union of one man and one woman
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· to support so-called same-sex ‘marriage’ is to support the destruction of the foundation of a successful society
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· to claim the argument for same-sex ‘marriage’ is the same as that for interracial marriage is like comparing apples to oranges – Loving v Virginia dealt with a man and a woman of two ethnic backgrounds winning the right to marry; it had nothing to do with the unnatural union of two people of the same sex
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· legalizing same-sex ‘marriage’ will open the door to polygamy
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· impressionable children will be the most negatively impacted by the legalization of same-sex ‘marriage’ – the push for homosexual ‘marriage’ puts the desires of adults before the needs of children
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· CDC statistics show that those who engage in homosexual acts account for the majority of AIDS cases; in February 2008 Matt Forman, Executive Director of the National Gay and Lesbian Taskforce, shocked attendees of the National Conference on Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual-Transgender Equality by calling HIV "a gay disease" -- saying that "with 70 percent of the people in this country living with HIV being gay or bi(-sexual), we cannot deny that HIV is a gay disease. We have to own that and face up to that."
“Supporters of so-called homosexual marriage claim they have a ‘right’ to marry. Since when did marriage become a right? There are marriage laws on the books which prevent certain individuals from marrying – a brother and sister, mother and son or father and daughter cannot marry. Can first cousins marry? No. To say homosexuals are treated as second class citizens because they cannot marry is a ridiculous argument. These activists simply seek to redefine marriage and family to bring validation to their immoral lifestyle,” Gramley further commented.
Homosexuals already can marry – just not each other!
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News Release
For Immediate Release: February 4, 2010
Contact: Diane Gramley 814.271.9078 or 1.814.437.5355
President Continues Divisiveness at National Prayer Breakfast
(Washington, DC) – President Obama continued his divisive ways in the speech delivered this morning at the National Prayer Breakfast. A Gallup Poll last month found America’s President to be the most divisive in history. Results showed a 65 percentage point gap between Republican and Democrat approval of Obama, which beat the previous record of 52 percentage points held by Bill Clinton. The American Family Association of Pennsylvania (AFA of PA), a statewide traditional values group, is appalled that the President continues his efforts to divide the country.
“The President loosely throws the word ‘civility’ around without apparent knowledge as to what it means. His administration has lacked courtesy and politeness – the real meanings of civility – since he took the oath of office last January,” Diane Gramley, president of the AFA of PA remarked.
Some examples include:
1.) During his January 27th State of the Union address, the President ‘apologized’ "for not explaining it (health care) more clearly to the American people." The subject, he noted, was "complex." (Note: he gave 29 speeches on the subject, but Americans apparently just didn’t get it)
2.) In November President Obama remarks to Democrats during a meeting at the Cannon Office Building included calling those who oppose his health care bill and attend TEA Parties ‘extremists.’ h
3.) Targeting Rush Limbaugh because of comments taken out of context last January.
The President’s remarks given during the National Prayer Breakfast included commending the work of his Council on Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships for “promoting fatherhood here at home to spearheading interfaith cooperation abroad. “
The AFA of PA asks whether he was thinking of the remarks of one of the members of the Advisory Council. Openly homosexual Harry Knox said in a May 11 PBS interview when speaking of responsible fatherhood Knox said, "It'll be challenging to do that in a way ... not to sort of hold a heteronormative view of fatherhood up as the only model." What message about fatherhood is being spearheaded abroad?
Gramley concluded, “I’m not sure the majority of Americans share the same dream as President Obama. I believe they want less government interference in their lives, they want the free market system to be allowed to work and they want less spending of our tax dollars on programs and commissions that don’t work. It is quite evident that there is a disconnect between President Obama and the American people.”
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News Release
For Immediate Release: February 4, 2010
Contact: Diane Gramley 1.814.271.9078 or 1.814.437.5355
New PA Court System Policy Validates Same-sex Relationships
(Harrisburg) – Friday’s memo delivered to employees of the Pennsylvania court system with their pay stubs reveals the danger of trusting the PA Supreme Court with family issues, noted the American Family Association of Pennsylvania (AFA of PA), a statewide pro-family group. The memo announces the extension of domestic partner benefits to the same-sex partner of court staffers paid by the state and will include medical, dental, vision and prescription-drug plans currently offered to married heterosexual couples.
“This is a further step to take away the uniqueness of natural marriage. The decision equates the unnatural relationship between same-sex couples to that of those involved in a one man one woman marriage,” noted Diane Gramley, president of the AFA of PA.
The idea originated with PA Supreme Court Justice Seamus McCaffrey. This comes as no surprise to the AFA of PA which monitored the 2007 election for Supreme Court. The homosexual affirming views of Judge McCaffrey were quite evident in voter guides he responded to.
“The Administrative Office of the Pennsylvania Courts placed the price tag at about $50,000 because so few will sign up to participate. Let’s face it, homosexuals make up less than 3 percent of the population and homosexual activists know it. In fact the April 2008 Human Rights Campaign study by Hunter College again confirmed this. So the questions is: why are Pennsylvania Courts bowing to this miniscule special interest group and working to undermine marriage?” Gramley asked.
Judge McCaffrey’s comments included those about “Brown vs. Board of Education” - the judicial decision that ended school segregation. The Judge is wrong in equating race with homosexuality. Race is unchangeable while homosexuality is changeable. People are not born homosexual, as homosexual activists try to claim as they demonize those who have left the lifestyle.
“The conclusion is Judge McCaffrey has been presented the wrong evidence and has handed down the wrong decision. He is listening to homosexual activists and in the process undermining natural marriage,” stated Gramley.
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News Release
For Immediate Release: January 11, 2010
Contact: Diane Gramley 1.814.271.9078 or 1.814.437.5355
Where are the Other 18 Pennsylvania Congressmen?
(Harrisburg) Congressman Joe Pitts is the only Pennsylvania Congressman to sign onto an amicus brief asking the Washington, DC City Counsel to allow the voters to advance the referendum process which would permit voters and not the City Counsel to decide the definition of marriage in the Nation’s Capitol. Today the American Family Association of Pennsylvania (AFA of PA), a statewide traditional values group, faxed Congressman Pitts thanking him for his willingness to be part of the amicus brief.
“On December 15 the DC Council voted to legalize same-sex marriage. The so-called "Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Equality Amendment Act of 2009" is a joke as the voices of both prominent African-American churches and the powerful Roman Catholic Archdiocese were ignored by Council. This bill has nothing to do with religious freedom and everything to do with furthering the agenda of those seeking to redefine marriage and family. The AFA of PA applauds Congressman Pitts and the other 38 who filed this brief,” Diane Gramley, president of the AFA of PA said.
In the past the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics has rejected a referendum effort stating that it violates the city’s Human Rights Act because ‘sexual orientation’ language has been added to give special protections to homosexuals. The AFA of PA notes this is added confirmation that the addition of such language will lead to the legalization of same-sex marriage.
“The bill was introduced by one of two openly homosexual Council members. They know that the majority of black voters in DC view marriage as only between one man and one woman and that’s why they want to keep the issue out of their hands. Consistently when the question of marriage is brought before the voters, traditional marriage wins. Our concern is that only one Pennsylvania federal elected representative thought this was an important enough issue in which to get involved. Where are the others, especially those who claim to be conservative?” questioned Gramley.
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News Release
For Immediate Release: January 7, 2010
Contact: Diane Gramley 1.814.271.9078 or 1.814.437.5355
New Jersey Senate Gets It Right, Will PA Senate Move Forward and Let the People Vote?
(Harrisburg) – Today the New Jersey Senate rejected same-sex marriage saying the issue was best left up to the voters. The American Family Association of Pennsylvania (AFA of PA), a statewide traditional values group, praised the 20 Senators who voted to let the people vote on the definition of marriage.
“Historically, marriage in this country has been between one man and one woman. A small percentage of the population wants to change that claiming it is their right to marry whomever they wish. Even now marriage restrictions exist. Laws already forbid a father from marrying a daughter or a brother from marrying a sister, ” noted Diane Gramley, president of the AFA of PA.
As the AFA of PA has always warned the passage of a civil union bill will be used as a stepping stone to a bigger push for same-sex marriage. New Jersey is a perfect example as within months of its first civil union homosexual activists were claiming they were being treated as second class citizens.
It is now up to the PA Senate to follow the example of the New Jersey Senate and pass Senator Eichelberger’s Marriage Protect Amendment bill which would move the voters one step closer to protecting traditional marriage.
“It is time for Pennsylvania to join the other 30 states which have passed Marriage Protection Amendments defining marriage as only between one man and one woman. Every state the people have been given an opportunity to vote traditional marriage has won. That’s why homosexual activists challenge marriage laws in the courts so the decision is up to a judicial activist and not the people,” Gramley further noted.
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