Social Conservative Cuts Bit About Slavery From Pledge Against Gay Marriage.

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http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2011/07/11/social-conservative-cuts-bit-about-slavery-from-pledge-against-gay-marriage/

Iowa conservative Bob Vander Plaats and his advocacy group, The Family Leader, removed a reference to slavery from their anti-gay-marriage pledge.

The pledge, part of a trend to pin down politicians on a variety of issues, has the backing of two Republican presidential candidates.

A version of the document posted on the group’s website Saturday, dropped this line from its forward: “Slavery had a disastrous impact on African-American families, yet sadly a child born into slavery in 1860 was more likely to be raised by his mother and father in a two-parent household than was an African-American baby born after the election of the USA’s first African-American President.”

In an email to Washington Wire, a spokeswoman for The Family Leader apologized “for any negative feelings this has caused,” and also said: “We agree that the statement referencing children born into slavery can be misconstrued, and such misconstruction can detract from the core message of the Marriage Vow: that ALL of us must work to strengthen and support families and marriages between one woman and one man.”

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R., Minn.) and former Sen. Rick Santorum (R., Pa.) both agreed to back the pledge shortly after Mr. Vander Plaats introduce it last week. Their presidential campaigns did not immediately respond to a request for comment.