Jonathan Saenz, The Texas Values president. (KEYE/screen grab)
Jonathan Saenz, the leader of the top anti-LGBT groups in Texas, complained recently that it should have been much harder for his lesbian ex-wife to get out of the marriage. Earlier this year, court documents showed that Corrine Morris Rodriguez Saenz was dating another woman when she filed for a divorce from Saenz, who became the president of Texas Values six months later.
On Monday, Lone Star Q published video of Saenz discussing his divorce last month while participating in a panel on same-sex marriage at the Texas Tribune Festival in Austin.
The Texas Values president explained that he had always held anti-LGBT views.
"There's no question that the beliefs I have when it comes to marriage, when it comes to the importance of marriage, to the impact it has on public policy and society, there's a long history of me being involved in that," he told moderator Emily Ramshaw. "I've always had these strong beliefs."
Saenz said that he didn't want to speak to his ex-wife's motivation for leaving him "out of respect" for her and his children.
But he didn't hold back when it came to the "negative impact" of no-fault divorce.
"These polices that we have, particularly some that deal with divorce, no-fault divorce, things of this nature, that I think could have an impact of encouraging people to giving up on permanency, giving up on monogamy, fidelity, and thinking that the answer is to move on to another relationship," Saenz insisted. "So these are real, important issues that we deal with."
"No fault divorce… has had a very negative impact, I think, on marriage, on people's lives, because I think it some ways it encourages people to just get out way too soon."
By David Edwards . . published in RawStory.