I’ve Changed My Mind About the Marriage Amendment

When it comes to the Constitution I am a strict constructionist. I’m an ardent supporter of states rights. Because of these things I’ve been opposed to a marriage amendment to the Constitution. I believed that the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) was sufficient to leave the question in the hands of the states. I have wanted Congress to remove DOMA from the purview of the courts so that it can’t be struck down but what I haven’t considered to this point is the possibility of DOMA being repealed.

In an interview with The Advocate, a gay magazine, Barack Obama said, among other things, that one of his goals is to repeal DOMA. That’s not a new position for Obama but his interview bring it to light again. The simple fact is, liberals will not stop until gay marriage is the law of the land. This is, among other things, what Obama had to say:

I have actually been much more vocal on gay issues to general audiences than any other presidential candidate probably in history… I reasonably can see ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ eliminated. I think that I can help usher through an Employment Non-Discrimination Act and sign it into law… The third thing I believe I can get done is in dealing with federal employees, making sure that their benefits, that their ability to transfer health or pension benefits the same way that opposite-sex couples do, is something that I’m interested in making happen… And finally, an area that I’m very interested in is making sure that federal benefits are available to same-sex couples who have a civil union… I, for a very long time, have been interested in a repeal of DOMA.

The biggest problem with the Republican Party in general and conservatives in particular is that we are always fighting defensive battles. When liberals want to move the country to the left, we claim victory if we slow them down. But the country still moves to the left, though not as much or as fast as the liberals might have liked.

There are so many things that are taken for granted in America today that were unthinkable just a few years ago. Just look at what is acceptable on TV today. Not to mention the soaring rate of teenage sexual activity. America much further left today than it was 50 years ago or 25 years ago or even 10 years ago. The fact is, conservatism is losing the war because it is a war of attrition. We may slow the process down but it doesn’t stop. It continues unabated in an inexorable slide to the left. If we don’t start fighting on offense, we’ll lose this country as we know it.

That’s why I’ve changed my position on the marriage amendment. DOMA was the defensive action. We slowed the progress with DOMA but we didn’t stop the process. Like any other law, DOMA can be overturned by a liberal Democrat Congress with a liberal Democrat like Obama in the White House. Even if DOMA doesn’t end up repealed by Congress, we’ll still end up with de facto gay marriage through the rapidly increasing slide we see in state after state.

Take New Mexico for example. Neither gay marriage not civil unions are recognized by law, yet a Christian photographer can be punished for not photographing a ceremony that isn’t legal in the first place. The push to enact civil union legislation is turning into an avalanche. The only way to stop the advance of gay marriage is the marriage amendment.

This argument applies, of course, to a host of other conservative issues as well. Unless conservatives reclaim the Republican Party and work, not just to slow the advance of liberalism, but to reverse it, we will not recognize the country we leave our children. And I’m convinced we’ll have saddled them with a burden beyond our worst nightmares.

For a thorough treatment of this issue see DOMA Won’t Do It: Why the Constitution Must Be Amended to Save Marriage.