David Boies, the attorney who is part of a bi-partisan effort to overturn California’s ban on same-sex marriage, writes an excellent counter-offensive to opponents of marriage equality in the Wall Street Journal.
The occasional suggestion that marriages between people of different sexes may somehow be threatened by marriages of people of the same sex does not withstand discussion. It is difficult to the point of impossibility to envision two love-struck heterosexuals contemplating marriage to decide against it because gays and lesbians also have the right to marry; it is equally hard to envision a couple whose marriage is troubled basing the decision of whether to divorce on whether their gay neighbors are married or living in a domestic partnership. And even if depriving lesbians of the right to marry each other could force them into marrying someone they do not love but who happens to be of the opposite sex, it is impossible to see how that could be thought to be as likely to lead to a stable, loving relationship as a marriage to the person they do love.
Moreover, there is no longer any credible contention that depriving gays and lesbians of basic rights will cause them to change their sexual orientation. Even if there was, the attempt would be constitutionally defective. But, in fact, the sexual orientation of gays and lesbians is as much a God-given characteristic as the color of their skin or the sexual orientation of their straight brothers and sisters. It is also a condition that, like race, has historically been subject to abusive and often violent discrimination. It is precisely where a minority’s basic human rights are abridged that our Constitution’s promise of due process and equal protection is most vital.
It is time to end discrimination against gays and lesbians and allow marriage rights for all.
The Bishops of the Episcopal Church have backed the blessing of gay and lesbian unions at their recent convention in Anaheim.
Mike Angell, who is studying to become an Episcopal priest at the Virginia Theological Seminary, said yesterday’s decision comes as a relief. “I have a number of friends — straight and gay — who requested me to perform their weddings once I’m ordained,” said Angell, who believes in equality for gay parishioners. “I would have felt limited and compromised blessing hetero couples but not gay couples. It’s an issue of justice.”
Regardless of how one church or another feels about blessing same-sex marriages, it is not up to the government to choose which religious marriages will get recognized by the state and which won’t.
Republican Jesse Levey is the son of two Lesbian mothers, and knows about strong family values. That is why he supports marriage equality.
“The conservative argument for family values is that we should be in married couples; I agree,” Levey says. “If we want to see children raised by married couples, then we should let gay people get married.”
A Republican lobbying for same-sex marriages might seem odd, but Levey says he embraces the conservative notion of individual freedom. He became a Republican at 12. Once, he sought permission for his middle school class to listen to Rush Limbaugh (he says he no longer listens to Limbaugh).
“When you grow up with Lesbian mothers, you can’t get your ears pierced to rebel,” he says. “I became a Republican.”
Today, Levey sees his parents’ choice not as an expression of rebellion, but as a desire for something that’s actually a conservative virtue — a loving family.
“I believe in family values, but family is about taking care of your children and respecting one another,” he says. “It doesn’t matter what your sexual orientation is.”
It doesn’t matter whether you are Republican or Democrat, if you believe in family values, then you should believe those values should apply to all families.
