An editorial in the Rocky Mountain News on March 7th of this year entitled, “Who decides gay marriage?” was not so much peculiar in its reasoning as it was just plain absurd by its lack of historical perspective.
The editorialist suggested that “…local opinion…” should be the deciding factor as to whether or not a state sanctions gay marriage. The editorialist further advised that the “…immediate threat…” to democracy is judicial activism trumping the legislative process. And, incredibly, the editorialist proclaimed that, “Taking an issue such as abortion or gay marriage out of the democratic domain and settling it by judicial fiat only inflames the passions of those on the losing side.”
One wonders what the state of American democracy would be if local opinion had been relied upon to determine who could sit where on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama after 1955? Talk about inflaming “…the passions of those on the losing side.” Indeed, if local opinion had ruled the day, would the United States Government have had any interest whatsoever in desegregating the University of Alabama in 1963? And, what about local sentiments prevailing in Kansas, South Carolina, Virginia and Delaware when Brown v. Board of Education was brought to the Supreme Court?
One wonders how the editorialists at the Rocky Mountain News define local opinion? If the Rocky perceives local opinion to reside within the Colorado State Legislature, then, perhaps, the Rocky’s editorialists should get out of Denver and move to Lamar where local opinion is, I'm quite certain, mirrored by the Colorado State Legislature.
Gay men and lesbians are due – as all Americans are due – the equal protection of the law as guaranteed by the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution. Period. If the Catholics or the Baptists or the Muslims or any other religious entity does not want to perform same sex marriages, then that’s their prerogative. However, the American experience is littered with the ignoble attempts of the self-righteous to impose upon us all cultural values that contradict the essential promise of this nation which is the respect and protection of each person’s right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
The Rocky’s editorialist’s peculiar pirouette on this issue – quite clearly denouncing Congresswoman Musgrave’s pitiful legislation to amend the Constitution while, at the same time, placing same sex marriage into the state’s rights arena – is witness only to the hypocrisy extant with this particular polemic. Because the polls say what they say, the Rocky becomes the champion of a constitutional amendment to deny equal protection of the law to a specific segment of the American people by letting the states decide who may and may not get married.
I would like to believe the Colorado Legislature would not follow in the footsteps of the likes of George C. Wallace and Jesse Helms, Strom Thurmond and Trent Lott . But, I wouldn't bet on it.
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