Listen Online: AFTAH Interview with Dave Smith on the ‘Civil Unions’ Vote in Illinois

IFI Executive Director Dave Smith got lied to by a few "pro-family" legislators who caved on Civil Unions in Springfield.

This interview with David Smith, Executive Director of Illinois Family Institute (IFI), aired Dec. 11, 2010 [click HERE to listen]. Smith was lobbying in Springfield against the “Civil Unions” bill successfully pushed by the Democratic leadership in the House and Senate, and by Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn. (See the Civil Unions roll call in the Illinois Senate and the House.) Smith describes how supposedly pro-family legislators reneged on their “No” pledge as they caved under the tremendous pressure that the Democratic leadership brought to bear on legislators. Several politicians who had indicated they were against Civil Unions switched their vote — as House Speaker Mike Madigan and Quinn wheeled and dealed to secure passage of legislation that constitutes a giant step toward recognizing “same-sex marriage” in the Land of Lincoln. (Madigan and Quinn are “cafeteria” Catholics who disregarded the Illinois Catholic Conference’s strong opposition to the bill.) 

AFTAH President Peter LaBarbera comments on the lone Senate Republican who voted to pass Civil Unions: Sen. Dan Rutherford, who was just elected Illinois Treasurer. He notes that Rutherford’s alleged homosexuality is a fairly open secret (or widely suspected) among the state’s Republican activists. In 2005, LaBarbera, then executive director of IFI, challenged Rutherford — who (mis)represents a conservative, rural district in central Illinois –to be forthright and honest about his sexual behavior, after Rutherford made his first major pro-homosexual vote (a pro-homosexual “sexual orientation/gender identity” bill). Rutherford avoided the question. Smith and LaBarbera also note the pathetic GOP opposition to Civil Unions in the state House — with just two Republicans rising on the floor to speak against the bill.

LaBarbera commends Smith and IFI for leading the opposition to this homosexual-agenda bill (along with the Catholic Conference). Smith says that even through the legislative defeat many Republicans and Democrats were exposed to a former homosexual for the first time, in the person of Linda Jernigan, who joined him as a lobbyist in Springfield. (See the AFTAH Hour interviews with Jernigan HERE; and with IFI writer/analyst Laurie Higgins HERE).

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12-11-10, Dave Smith, All