Here are some of the week’s most notable quotes culled from news reports from across Texas, and beyond.
Texas state Sen. Dan Patrick’s reaction to news that Houston Mayor Annise Parker married her longtime partner.
I am not shocked that Mayor Parker decided to elope to California for a marriage that is unconstitutional in Texas. This is obviously part of a larger strategy of hers to turn Texas into California.
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Another religious-right response to Mayor Parker’s wedding, this time from Dave Welch of the Houston Area Pastor Council.
The sad reality is that Annise Parker believes this legitimizes her relationship, her lifestyle and her radical agenda to overturn our moral, civil and constitutional law. It does not, and her marriage is not recognized in this city or state.
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Kierra Johnson of Choice USA and TFN President Kathy Miller writing an editorial response to a mandatory parental involvement law proposed by U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas.
If Gohmert is really interested in building strong, healthy families he could start by providing support and resources to those young people who do decide to become parents.
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Rev. Bill McElvaney, a prominent Methodist minister and former professor at SMU’s Perkins School of Theology, announcing he will defy official church policy to officiate at same-sex weddings.
This is much more than an issue to be addressed,” McElvaney said. “It’s all about acceptance as human beings, about not having one’s worth voted on by peers who believe a few scriptural passages formed by the apostle Paul are more authoritative than the numerous persuasive and powerful texts lifting up God’s radical love through Jesus Christ.
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Texas Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, on teacher salaries in the state’s public schools. Texas consistently ranks near the bottom nationally in average teacher pay.
At the end of the day, we’re paying our school teachers — when you count in cost of living — a very fair salary.
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The Los Angeles Time’s Michael Hiltzik, writing on revelations that charter school operator ResponsiveEd could be using a curriculum that includes creationism on public campuses in Texas.
In a sane world, the ringing denunciation of intelligent design and creationist “science” delivered by a federal judge in 2005 would have eradicated these concepts from the schoolroom.
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Texas state Rep. Sarah Davis, R-West University Place, following the announcement that she received the endorsement of Equality Texas, marking the first time the pro-gay rights group has endorsed a Republican.
I believe marriage is a religious sacrament, and the government should not force congregations to perform the ceremonies, however I do not oppose two consenting adults entering into civil unions.
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Glenn Beck, claiming that Bill Nye the Science Guy is no different than the people who persecuted Galileo.
How’s he going to look? Is he going to look … uh … like the people who threw Galileo out?
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Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring, announcing his office will join gay couples in two federal lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of the state’s same-sex marriage ban.
It’s time for the commonwealth to be on the right side of history and the right side of the law.
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U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce, R-N.M., in his new book.
The wife is to voluntarily submit, just as the husband is to lovingly lead and sacrifice. The husband’s part is to show up during the times of deep stress, take the leadership role and be accountable for the outcome, blaming no one else.
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TFN founder and current Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards.
You know, it’s incredible to me that we’re going to go to the Supreme Court to argue over whether women should have birth control covered in their insurance plans. This is something that 99 percent of women in this country that are of reproductive age have used at some point — so the thought that this is somehow a controversial issue is laughable.
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Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.
Democrats want to insult the women of America by making them believe that they are helpless without ‘Uncle Sugar’ coming in and for providing for them a prescription each month for birth control because they cannot control their libido or reproductive system without the help of the government – then so be it.
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BONUS
Listen to Bill Nye the Science Guy explain why he agreed to debate Creation Museum founder Ken Ham.
“You know, it’s incredible to me that we’re going to go to the Supreme Court to argue over whether women should have birth control covered in their insurance plans. This is something that 99 percent of women in this country that are of reproductive age have used at some point — so the thought that this is somehow a controversial issue is laughable.”
That is one of the most surprising things to me. In the 1970s and 1980s, only the Catholics were saying that birth control was “against god’s will”. Somehow, in the last decade, the fundamentalists have decided that birth control is the same as abortion, and that god opens and closes the womb and that we should stand back and let him decide how many babies we should have. How did that happen?