Minnesota Independent

Pawlenty won’t sign controversial Iowa marriage pledge

By Andy Birkey | 07.13.11 | 3:08 pm

Presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty announced on Wednesday that he would not sign a controversial marriage pledge by Iowa’s The Family Leader. Pawlenty said, “I prefer to choose my own words,” in response to the pledge which has come under fire for references to slavery, its opposition to same-sex marriage, a ban on pornography and an insinuation that being gay or lesbian is a choice. Fellow presidential candidates Michele Bachmann and Rick Santorum have signed on while Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney have criticized the pledge.

Rep. Michele Bachmann. Photo: Gage Skidmore, Flickr

Bachmann signs pledge to ban pornography, same-sex marriage as president

By Andy Birkey | 07.08.11 | 5:00 am

Michele Bachmann became the first presidential candidate to sign a pledge by The Family Leader, an Iowa-based religious right group. The 14-point pledge (PDF) asks candidates to ban same-sex marriage, protect women and children from pornography and reject Islamic law. Signers also must promise to affirm that same-sex marriage is akin to polygamy and that having many children is good for America. The vow also insinuates that homosexuality is a choice, and that being gay or lesbian is a public health risk.

Feds lose war on porn in Supreme Court

By Andy Birkey | 01.27.09 | 3:45 pm

Since 1998, the Justice Department has been pushing an anti-pornography law that is so vague and technologically illiterate that support for it finally crumbled last week when the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the department’s appeal. The law, the Child…