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Templates
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(4)Yes, Marriage Can Be Saved
From the Gay Lobby
by Phyllis Schlafly
Human Events
Posted 04/20/2009
Since the April defeats for traditional marriage in the Iowa Supreme Court,
the Vermont Legislature and the Washington, D.C., City Council, Americans in
the other 48 states are quietly stress-testing their legal defenses against
the spread of legalized same-sex marriage.
The Iowa ruling was particularly shocking. Not one of Iowa's seven supreme
court justices, who were appointed by both Republican and Democratic
governors over the past 15 years, could identify a valid public purpose for
the institution that has guided our civilization for thousands of years.
The unanimity of the decision sets Iowa apart from the seven other states --
Massachusetts, Washington, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Connecticut, and
California -- where state supreme courts have ruled on same-sex marriage
since 2003. A majority of the more than 50 state supreme court justices in
those seven states had no trouble recognizing the value of conferring public
recognition and benefits on the union of husband and wife, as also did lower
court judges in Indiana and Arizona.
Unlike the 30 states that added language to their state constitutions
supporting the traditional definition of marriage, Iowa does not allow
citizen initiatives to go directly to the ballot. The leaders of both houses
of the state legislature have refused to allow their members to vote on a
marriage amendment, so Iowans now have the difficult task persuading
legislators to bypass their own leaders in order to schedule a vote on a
measure that polls show two-thirds of Iowans support.
However, a much more critical legal drama began last month in a federal
court in Boston. The same law firm that brought gay marriage to
Massachusetts is trying to overturn the federal law that protects the
traditional definition of marriage in all federal departments, agencies and
programs. Left-wing Harvard professor Laurence Tribe praises this lawsuit as
a "surgical attack on DOMA," a law he calls "particularly invidious."
The federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) -- signed by President Bill
Clinton in 1996 after an overwhelming bipartisan vote in Congress (342-67
and 85-14) -- provides that federal laws must be interpreted in accord with
the traditional definition of marriage as the union of husband and wife.
Five years ago, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) counted 1,138
federal laws that refer to marriage, spouse, husband or wife, and DOMA
requires these laws to be administered uniformly throughout the nation. DOMA
requires that even in states where same-sex unions are recognized, their
partners are not recognized as married for purposes of federal law.
Same-sex partners cannot claim the privileges and benefits that Congress
makes available to those who are married or widowed. For example, they
cannot file joint income tax returns, receive Social Security benefits on
their partner's wages, collect life insurance following the death of a
military service member or obtain a green card for a partner from another
country.
The anti-DOMA lawsuit claims it is unfair and discriminatory that same-sex
couples who, they say, are legally married under state law are not
recognized as such by the U.S. government. But the federal government must
consider the entire nation, including the 43 states whose laws categorically
declare that same-sex marriages from other states are not valid and may not
be recognized for any purpose whatsoever.
If we didn't have a uniform federal definition of marriage, it wouldn't be
long before every state had same-sex couples saying they were "married" in
Massachusetts, Vermont or Iowa, and demanding that their "marriages" be
recognized by those 1,138 federal laws even after moving to a traditional
marriage state.
If judges overrule Congress and the majority of the American people by
striking down DOMA, it would be the same type of judicial supremacy that
occurred 152 years ago in the famous Dred Scott case. The U.S. Supreme Court
ruled that once a slave became "property" under the laws of a slave state,
that legal status had to be maintained and respected even after the slave
was taken to a free state, or even to a U.S. territory where slavery was
specifically forbidden by Congress.
In his first campaign for the Illinois state Senate in 1996, Barack Obama
wrote: "I favor legalizing same-sex marriages, and would fight efforts to
prohibit such marriages." On his first day as president, the White House
Website was updated to declare: "Obama also believes we need to repeal the
Defense of Marriage Act and enact legislation that would ensure that the
1,100-plus federal legal rights and benefits currently provided on the basis
of marital status are extended to same-sex couples in civil unions and other
legally recognized unions."
Will the Obama Justice Department do its duty and defend federal law?
Seventy-seven members of Congress wrote to Attorney General Eric Holder on
March 24 requesting assurances by April 1 "that you plan to defend
vigorously this law in its entirety."
We're still waiting for Holder's response. Americans must preserve
DOMA at any cost.
Copyright © 2009 HUMAN EVENTS. All Rights
Reserved.
Phyllis Schlafly is a columnist,
author, and one of the original women who continue to influence modern day
conservative intellects.
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Templates for
Conservative
Leadership 2012
1. Sarah Palin, Governor of Alaska and 2008 Republican Vice
Presidential Candidate. Her 2009 State of the State address to
Alaskans
2.
Michael Dolan, Executive
VP for Exxon Mobile talks about 21st Century energy with some foundational
perspectives on why Cap and Trade is terrible for the economy and the
nation.
3.
Dr. Thomas Sowell
Hoover Institute scholar on why
Republicans should stay focused on applying conservative thought to policy
making.
4.
Phyllis Schlafly,
Commentator on how
marriage can be saved from the gay lobby.
5.
Representative Louie Gohmert
on why the "Hate Crimes" bill violates the First Amendment rights of the
Constitution.
6.
Lee Walker
and Joseph Bast, Senior Fellow and President of the
Heartland Institute respectively on why blacks should naturally embrace
conservative policy.
7.
Dr. Kim R.
Holmes, Heritage Foundation scholar on Obama's First 100 Days of liberalism.
8.
Aryeh Spero,
Radio Talk Show Host on why Republicans should stay conservative.
9.
Doug Patton, Columnist,
political speech writer and policy advisor on conservative women and
leadership.
10.
Pat
Buchanan,
is a nationally syndicated columnist, former Presidential advisor, best
selling author and one of the premier conservative intellects in America.
11.
Human
Events, (Petition) National Security.
Human Events is the news source President Reagan called his "favorite
newspaper" and we still hold high the Reaganesque principles of free
enterprise, limited government and, above all, a staunch, unwavering defense
of American freedom.
12.
Lt. Colonel Oliver North. Nationally
syndicated columnist and the author of the FOX News/Regnery books, "War Stories:
Operation Iraqi Freedom," and "War Stories III: The Heroes Who
Defeated Hitler."
Lt. North hosts "War Stories" on Fox News
Channel.
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