Feature Story - May 2009
Traditional Marriage Advocates Dealt More Setbacks
"Vermont's civil union law has afforded the same state rights, responsibilities and benefits of marriage to same-sex couples. Our civil union law serves Vermont well, and I would support congressional action to extend those benefits at the federal level to states that recognize same-sex unions. But I believe that marriage should remain between a man and a woman," Douglas stated.
Last month, same-sex marriage was approved for two more states, Iowa and Vermont, while the District of Columbia gave preliminary approval to recognizing gay marriages performed in other states.
Iowa and Vermont join Massachusetts and Connecticut in legalizing same-sex marriage.
Last November, voters in California approved Proposition 8, a state constitutional amendment which circumvented a state Supreme Court decision which legalized gay marriage there earlier in the year.
In the case of Vermont, it marked the first time that a same-sex marriage law cleared a state legislature, with the other states all resulting from court rulings. Also, in 2000, Vermont became the first state to legalize civil unions for gay couples.
Vermont Republican Governor Jim Douglas vetoed the measure.
However, the state legislature overrode Douglas' veto the following day. The state Senate easily overrode the veto on a vote of 23-to-5.
It was a different story in the state House, though, which recorded a dramatic 100-to-49 tally, the minimum needed to override the veto.
Gay rights organization, The Human Rights Campaign, noted, Vermont is the first state to legalize same-sex marriage through the legislative process.
HRC president, Joe Solmonese, said, "This historic vote in the Vermont legislature reminds us of the incredible progress being made toward equality. This is a law that will strengthen families and give meaning to the promise of equal rights for all."
Likewise, Jody Huckaby, executive director of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, said, "The people's representatives have made history, declaring a separate recognition for some families as being unequal in the eyes of the law. And Vermont's families have won a joyous victory, gaining the rights, protections and recognition they deserve under the law." Some in the faith community also applauded the action by the Vermont legislature.
The Rev. Mike Schuenemeyer, the United Church of Christ's minister for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender concerns, praised the action taken by Vermont lawmakers.
"The legislature has acted rightly to end the second class status of civil unions so that all couples may be treated equally in both the name and legal status of marriage. I applaud the many people from our UCC churches in Vermont, and other people of faith, who shared their stories and worked hard to make this possible," Schuenemeyer said.
Also, Interfaith Alliance President, Rev. Dr. C. Welton Gaddy, said, "The Vermont legislature did the right thing by overriding the governor's veto of legislation legalizing gay marriage. This action, taken together with Iowa's Supreme Court decision, will forever make April, 2009, a milestone on the road to equal rights for all citizens. Vermont has recognized and respected the important boundaries between the legal requirements for the civil institution of marriage, and the theological requirements for the religious institution of marriage, and should be congratulated for it."
Liberty Counsel Founder, Mathew Staver, denounced the Vermont legislature's action.
"It is a sad day in America when elected officials are clueless about the definition of marriage. If they cannot understand this basic human relationship between a man and a woman, then they are not competent for public office. Marriage laws regulate a social institution upon which society has been built, and the future of society rests. By redefining marriage, the Vermont legislature removed the cornerstone of society and the foundation of government. The consequences will rest on their shoulders, and upon those passive objectors who know what to do, but lack the courage to stand against this form of tyranny," Staver said.
Alliance Defense Fund said, the legislative action taken in Vermont is a "textbook rebuttal" of the argument that "civil unions" are a satisfactory compromise to protect marriage.
ADF Senior Legal Counsel, Austin Nimocks, noted, "This move demonstrates without question that ‘civil unions' are never acceptable middle ground. Instead, they are the groundwork used to pave the way toward what you see today. Other states should not be naive."
Nimocks sentiments were echoed by Concerned Women for America President, Wendy Wright.
"Vermont was the first state to create civil unions, an arrangement allowing same-sex couples all the government-bestowed benefits of marriage. But as pro-family leaders warned, and despite claims by homosexual activists, this debate is not about benefits. That was merely the wedge to demand more, to require that everyone in society accept what cannot–by nature–be, that marriage can be something other than one man and one woman," Wright said.
Iowa has become the first state in the Midwest to approve gay marriage. The Iowa Supreme Court unanimously upheld an August, 2007, decision by a Polk County District Court judge who found a 1998 law approved by the state legislature limiting marriage to a man and a woman, to be unconstitutional.
The lower court decision stemmed from a lawsuit filed in 2005 by six homosexual and lesbian couples who were denied marriage licenses in Des Moines.
The American Civil Liberties Union filed friend-of-the-court briefs in support of the lower court case.
Matt Coles, director of the ACLU Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Project, said, "The Iowa Supreme Court has given an incredibly well-reasoned explanation for why our constitutional principles of fairness and equality simply will not permit us to continue to deny lesbian and gay couples the right to marry. This unanimous decision, coupled with the recent movement by statehouses across the nation to advance pro-marriage bills, shows that the tide has finally turned in support of the freedom to marry."
Americans United for Separation of Church and State said, the Iowa decision is a "welcome reaffirmation of religious liberty."
Americans United Executive Director, the Rev. Barry Lynn, said, "The justices reminded us that religious groups are free to marry whomever they choose, but civil law cannot be based on any group's theology.
The court has recognized that civil marriage is the province of government, and religious marriage is the province of the faith community. That's what our constitutional principles mandate, and that's the way it should be. Clergy are free to perform, or decline to perform, marriage ceremonies, while the government treats everyone equally when it comes to civil marriage," Lynn said. However, Eagle Forum Founder Phyllis Schlafly condemned the "activist decision" of the Iowa Supreme Court.
"This decision should be a wake-up call to Americans that traditional marriage is under assault -- not only in liberal havens, like Massachusetts and California, but also in traditionally conservative states. The American people will not continue to stand by silently in the face of more and more of these activist court rulings that openly defy the will of the people. We can never allow the definition of marriage to simply mean two consenting persons who agree to share quarters and start applying to the government for benefits," Schlafly said.
Family Research Council President, Tony Perkins, said, "Same-sex ‘marriage' continues to be a movement driven by a liberal judicial elite determined to destroy not only the institution of marriage, but democracy as well. The casual dismissal of the facts of human biology, and thousands of years of human history, simply to pander to a small band of social radicals, is bizarre and indefensible.
We need to remember that the marriage amendment movement has been many times more successful than the same-sex ‘marriage' movement. We will continue to stand with those states which are seeking to pass marriage protection amendments in order to protect our most fundamental social institution from the kind of judicial activism we saw in Iowa," Perkins stated.
While 43 states have laws explicitly barring gay marriage, only 29 of them have constitutional amendments in place limiting marriage to one man and one woman.
Also, at least nine states have same-sex marriage bills before their legislatures this year, including New Hampshire, Maine, Rhode Island, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York and Washington.
The events of the past month have prompted the National Organization for Marriage to launch a two-pronged approach to support traditional marriage. It has begun a $1.5-million-dollar television ad campaign which features monologues from parents, teachers and doctors in gay marriage battleground states who are concerned as to how same-sex marriage will impact their freedom.
In addition, NOM has begun a new nationwide "2 Million for Marriage" initiative. The goal is to organize two million traditional marriage proponents from every state over the next two years, to "form an online army of marriage activists willing to stand up for marriage on a moment's notice, sending emails and making phone calls to legislators whenever marriage is threatened."
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