Wednesday, July 3, 2013

In light of Supreme Court's decision on DOMA, where do we go from here in the battle for marriage?

Here's an excellent summary by Ryan Anderson of what happened with the Supreme Court and it's 5 to 4 decision striking down the federal DOMA provision.  He also provides good points for moving ahead.

The Court's decision was clearly a power play and as Scalia wrote the majority will try to get away with whatever it can.
To defend traditional marriage is not to condemn, demean, or humiliate those who would prefer other arrangements …. To hurl such accusations so casually demeans this institution. In the majority’s judgment, any resistance to its holding is beyond the pale of reasoned disagreement. … All that, simply for supporting an Act that did no more than codify an aspect of marriage that had been unquestioned in our society for most of its existence — indeed, had been unquestioned in virtually all societies for virtually all of human history. It is one thing for a society to elect change; it is another for a court of law to impose change by adjudging those who oppose it hostes humani generis, enemies of the human race.
Anderson then comments: 
Scalia writes that he does not mean “to suggest disagreement with the Chief Justice’s view” about the confines of Kennedy’s opinion. But Scalia tells us to be clear-eyed: “I promise you this: The only thing that will ‘confine’ the Court’s holding is its sense of what it can get away with.”
The battle certainly needs to be waged in legislative bodies and the courts but just as importantly in the broader culture.  To date, the redefinition folks have had the run of the field in the media and entertainment worlds.

I have a suspicion that will start to change.

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