When State Representative Tom Brinkman traveled to Miami last semester to discuss his lawsuit against the university, a questioner out of the crowd asked the politician to explain his opposition to a bill in the Ohio legislature that would have recognized the Fourth Amendment as a guarantee of legal rights. Brinkman explained that his opposition to the Fourth Amendment rested on a judicial interpretation of the amendment that led to a safeguard of abortion rights and a trampling of states' rights in the matter; a philosophy eventually summarized in Roe v. Wade. Yet while many conservatives criticize Roe v. Wade endlessly and articulate a position of states having the natural power to regulate a social matter like abortion, the inverse stance is taken on gay marriage.
Social conservatives in Congress have proposed a constitutional amendment to nationally define marriage as only between a man and a woman. No legal precedent exists to support this amendment or any reasoning as to why it should be adopted. For a party so devoted to prevent federal encroachment on states' power, it is disappointing to see the Republican Party endorse a constitutional amendment that is not only unnecessary, but also targeted to prevent states from reaching their own legal conclusions on the matter.
Opposition to gay marriage rests primarily on moral and religious grounds. As much respect as can be paid to the long tradition of marriage, secular law cannot properly evaluate such arguments. Proponents of same-sex marriage are not asking churches and specific religions to endorse or even recognize their legal union. Opponents of gay marriage can still refuse to accept its validity in their religions. But the Constitution should not be used as an obstacle to equal rights. Vice President Dick Cheney recognized the significance of equal legal access when he said, "With the respect to the question of relationships, my general view is freedom means freedom for everyone ... People ought to be free to enter into any kind of relationship they want to." Gays and lesbians are productive members of society with long and meaningful relationships with their partners and it is unclear how same-sex marriage would lead to moral deviance, societal chaos or even Armageddon as some ridiculously claim.
For all the concern enunciated about judicial activism usurping the Constitution, the real concern should be focused on using the Constitution as a vehicle to restrict rights of those unable to find the political representation to defend themselves. Fourth Circuit Court Judge James Wilkinson stated, "To use the Constitution as a forum for even our most favored views strikes a blow of uncommon harshness upon disfavored groups, in this case gay citizens who would never see this country's founding charter as their own."
Far more profound and important to our country than the tradition of marriage is the tradition of our Constitution serving as a model of representative democracy to other countries. Terminating that constitutional tradition for the sake of banning the legal recognition of same-sex relationship strikes me as as silly and deeply sad as well. In a climatic world of terrorism and war, important issues of life and death face us everyday. But Congressional leaders in Washington seem content wasting their time and seriously considering a provision that would restrict citizen's rights in this land of the free.
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