Monday August 11, 2003 at 5:30 PM
The Importance of Gay Rights
Appearing in Truth & Justice
Not withstanding the carnival that has become California’s gubernatorial recall, or the ongoing “difficulties” faced by U.S. forces in Iraq, few issues have garnered more attention in the last few weeks than the debate over gay rights in general and same-sex marriage in particular. The somewhat surprising fervor over the issue has been fueled by the recent Supreme Court ruling overturning Texas’ anti-sodomy law, the ensuing call by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist for a constitutional amendment to define marriage as a strictly heterosexual institution, and most recently, the decision by the Episcopal church to admit an openly gay minister to the post of bishop.
With estimates of the homosexual population running between 10% and 1% of the overall U.S. population [ see also ], most observers have portrayed the controversy in terms of the ongoing struggle for social, political, and economic acceptance of all minorities. Unfortunately, viewing the issue solely in terms of minority rights fails to acknowledge the unique and important implications of this particular situation for those outside the gay minority.
In seeking to discriminate and limit the rights of gay individuals, opponents of same-sex marriage could have built their case on economic or legal grounds. Instead, such opponents have chosen to rely on moral reasoning derived from a subjective interpretation of Christian theology. By choosing this argument however, they simultaneously expose the weakness of their position and the insidious implications of the debate. Although heterosexual Americans may dismiss or ignore this issue as having little effect on them personally, what those same Americans fail to realize is that this issue is not so much about gay rights as much as it is a proxy fight over the separation of Church and State.
Admitting from the onset that their position is fundamentally inconsistent with the Constitution, religious conservatives seek to codify heterosexual marriage through an amendment, injecting a religious and moral agenda that is largely unprecedented in both the original text and subsequent amendments. Although an obvious exception is the 18th Amendment, its ineffectuality and repeal 14 years later should serve as a cautionary tale to proponents of other “moral amendments”.
The great irony here of course, is that the institutions and practices which have been historically protected by the separation of Church and State, are now the very ones attempting to destroy our Constitutional integrity in order to further their own interests and perpetuate their personal belief systems. Like so many other issues in the news these days, there is considerably more at stake here than is immediately apparent. For the sake of our democracy however, it is important for all of us to more carefully analyze these issues and to work harder to understand both the forces and motives behind them.
