NBC News: It Would Cause Harm
The attorney general of Florida says in court documents that recognizing certain marriages performed in other states would disrupt existing marriage laws and "impose significant public harm."
Attorney General Pam Bondi, a Republican who was named in the lawsuit along with fellow GOP Gov. Rick Scott and other state officials, earlier this month filed a lengthy response that asks a federal judge to throw out the lawsuit for several reasons, saying a federal court shouldn't rule on a state's marriage laws.
Bondi's office also argues that the state has a legitimate interest in defining marriage as between a man and woman.
"Florida's marriage laws, then, have a close, direct, and rational relationship to society's legitimate interest in increasing the likelihood that children will be born to and raised by the mothers and fathers who produced them in stable and enduring family units," Bondi's office said in court documents.
Scott earlier this year said he supports Florida's constitutional amendment defining marriage as between a man and a woman, but added that he "does not believe that anyone should be discriminated against for any reason."
Read more at NBC News:
http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/Bondi-Gay-Marriage-Would-Cause-Harm-261297361.html#