Here are some of the week’s most notable quotes culled from news reports from across Texas, and beyond.
WWE star wrestler “Stone Cold” Steve Austin voicing his opinion on gay marriage in his weekly podcast.
I don’t give a **** if two guys, two gals, guy-gal, whatever it is – I believe that any human being in America, or any human being in the world, that wants to be married [should be able to get married], and if it’s same-sex, more power to ’em.
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Part of Cliven Bundy’s infamous rant on slavery.
And I’ve often wondered, are they better off as slaves, picking cotton and having a family life and doing things, or are they better off under government subsidy? They didn’t get no more freedom. They got less freedom.
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New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan, defending Hobby Lobby’s challenge to the contraception mandate by making a dubious claim about convenience stores.
Is the ability to buy contraceptives, that are now widely available — my Lord, all you have to do is walk into a 7-11 or any shop on any street in America and have access to them — is that right to access those and have them paid for, is that such a towering good that it would suffocate the rights of conscience?
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Carl Kerby, explaining how dinosaurs accompanied Noah on his Ark.
I see some people that like to mock and ridicule, especially about the dinosaurs, how did they put the big old dinosaurs on there? Well, I would suggest to you they didn’t take the big old dinosaur — they would have taken the younger ones. You think of a guy like me, if you’re going to go repopulate a planet, you’re not taking me with you. I’m old. My repopulating days are done. You take my son or my grandson. My grandson is a whole lot smaller than I am.
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Ira Lupu, co-author of the 2007 Pew Forum report Religion In The Public Schools, on a newly approved curriculum for Bible studies in Oklahoma.
If the curriculum intends to teach the Bible as ‘truth,’ this is a non-starter. A public school cannot offer a course that affirms or denies religious truths. The wild card is – like every other course – it depends on who’s teaching it and how it’s taught. The curriculum might not teach the Bible as truth, but the teacher might.
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Tyler Deaton, founder of Young Conservatives for the Freedom to Marry, on the push to get the national Republican party to drop opposition to gay marriage from the party platform.
I think we’re going to be successful, I think that this is the right time, that if the party wants to grow, then for the party to reach new voters, this is a necessary change. I think we’ll have a new platform in 2016 that is much more inclusive to gay people.
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Rafael Cruz, insisting that separation of church and state isn’t in the Constitution but that, even if it were, it would be only “one-way.”
And if you read Jefferson’s letter to the Danbury Baptists, it is absolutely clear when he says that matters of faith and worship, no one has the right to interfere; they’re only between you and God. And then he cites the First Amendment of the Constitution. It is absolutely clear when he said legislature has no right to establish a religion or interfere with the free exercise there of, thus there is a wall of separation between church and state, it is absolutely obvious that Jefferson was talking about a one-way wall, a one-way wall to keep government from interfering in the [inaudible because of applause]. In no way, shape or form was Jefferson implying that we should not have an influence on every area of society. God has called us to be the head and not the tail, not only in the church, but also in the media, in arts and entertainment, in sports, in business, in education and even in government.
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Katrina Anderson, a human rights lawyer from the Center for Reproductive Rights, on the Texas Legislature’s refusal to fund family planning clinics in Texas.
These cuts have destroyed the Texas reproductive health safety net for many Latina women, violated their human rights and made it impossible for them to take care of their own health.
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A petition filed by the Texas attorney general’s office to the Fourth Court of Appeals, asking for a temporary hold on a ruling made Tuesday which would found Texas’ restrictions on same-sex marriage (and divorce) unconstitutional.
While the district court’s authority extends only to the parties before it, the unnecessary and overly broad language used in the order creates the impression that the order was intended to have the statewide effect of ‘striking down’ Texas marriage law.
