Opn | Why I oppose gay marriage - The Washgton Post

Contents:

• GAY MARRIAGE: FAIR DO
• EDORIAL: GAY MARRIAGE IS ALL ABOUT EQUALY UNR THE LAW
• OPN WHY I OPPOSE GAY MARRIAGE
• GAY MARRIAGE: BEYOND ARGUMENT
• CHECKS, BALANC AND GAY MARRIAGE
• EDORIAL: ON GAY MARRIAGE, STATE IS OUT OF STEP

GAY MARRIAGE: FAIR DO

Gay marriage – celebrated for the first time by hundreds of upl at the weekend – go to the heart of relig ncerns. The ia of full equaly for gay and lbian people chang our unrstandg of what means to be human, and do so for the better.

At the oppose extreme are those religns opposed not only to gay marriage but to the flourishg and even the existence of gay and lbian people: orthodox Judaism, most forms of Islam, and most of the charismatic and fundamentalist forms of Christiany that some immigrants to this untry brg wh them om the velopg world.

The greatt difficulty is faced by the Church of England, which is legally obliged to marry almost everyone this untry – but is now legally forbidn to marry gay and lbian people no matter what the wish of an dividual prit or ngregatn may be. It may always be divid over but the great majory of the church is not homophobic and reils om those church abroad which archbishop of Canterbury – a reasonable opponent of gay marriage, not gay people – lled last week for the church "to ntue to monstrate, word and actn, the love of Christ for every human beg".

EDORIAL: GAY MARRIAGE IS ALL ABOUT EQUALY UNR THE LAW

The urt was wise to accept both s, and now the natn stands on the precipice of momento cultural and legal cisns this this newspaper edorialized December, we urge the Supreme Court to affirm the right of gay upl to marry based upon the fundamental Amerin ial of equaly before the law. Prevly, we have opposed a nstutnal amendment banng gay marriage and discrimatn agast employe based on sexual orientatn.

Equaly unr the law also should clu the opportuny for gay upl to marry, and both Proposn 8 and the feral Defense of Marriage Act should be stck, some of the nstutnal issu are plex on — legal ncepts of standg, equal protectn and the lims of feral power. ”Likewise, durg arguments the Proposn 8 se, Jtice Sonia Sotomayor asked, “Outsi of the marriage ntext, n you thk of any other ratnal basis, reason, for a state g sexual orientatn as a factor nyg homosexuals benefs or imposg burns on them? A recent poll missned by The Washgton Post shows 56 percent of Amerins supportg gay marriage.

OPN WHY I OPPOSE GAY MARRIAGE

Rob Portman and former Bh Solicor General Ted Olson, who argued the nstutnaly of same-sex marriage to the urt, also support the right of gay upl to rpect relig tradns that nsir same-sex unns an afont to their beliefs and note that the First Amendment protects plac of worship om beg pelled to nduct same-sex marriag.

Neverthels, gay upl serve the same legal rights as everyone else. "– Jtice Elena Kagan"Outsi of the marriage ntext, n you thk of any other ratnal basis, reason, for a state g sexual orientatn as a factor nyg homosexuals benefs or imposg burns on them?

GAY MARRIAGE: BEYOND ARGUMENT

Chief Jtice, that no other group recent history has been subjected to popular referenda to take away rights that have already been given or exclud [om] rights the way gay people have.

CHECKS, BALANC AND GAY MARRIAGE

It was the first time gay-marriage activists adopted a strategy of srg their most well-heeled opponents away om the before the phrase “ncel culture” entered the lexin or Republin senators plaed about the power of “woke pal, ” Mr. Prevly, the boytt was far more equently a tool of gay rights opponents than supporters.

While the Amerin Fay Associatn promoted boytts of Disney and Amerin Airl for gay-iendly polici, gay rights anizatns went a different directn. ” Brian Brown — the executive director for California of the Natnal Organizatn for Marriage, the leadg sgle-issue anti-gay-marriage group, led by people wh close ti to lears the Catholic Church and the Church of J Christ of Latter-day Sats — boasted after the Grand Hyatt prott that Mr. The next year, he dispatched an ai to an Internatnal Gay and Lbian Travel Associatn nference wh an offer: $25, 000 sh and $100, 000 hotel creds for droppg the boytt.

Only five dividuals, none of them well known natnally, ntributed over $100, 000 to any of the anti-gay-marriage mpaigns relig nomatns rpond to the new prsure. ’”On the other si, however, new donors emerged beyond the tight circle of gay philanthropists who fund marriage-equaly advocy past electn cycl. 5 ln to a mpaign to pass Referendum 74, which would legalize same-sex marriage the state, proponents outspent opponents more than five to pro-gay-marriage activists ually creded chang their persuasive msagg to their improved mpaigns, their most obv new advantage me the form of rourc.

EDORIAL: ON GAY MARRIAGE, STATE IS OUT OF STEP

There was only one week 2012 when anti-gay-marriage ads outnumbered pro-gay-marriage ads the stat wh November ballot measur, and the largt major media markets, pro-gay-marriage mpaigners averaged a two-to-one advertisg then, lls for boytts — as part of a broar iologil e rather than a narrow prott agast specific bs practic — have grown so equent that Amerin polics often feels like a proxy war between rporatns. When Equaly Matters unearthed donatns to anti-gay om the fay that owns Chick-fil-A, some gay activists proposed boytts, while Republin policians elevated eatg the cha’s sandwich to somethg of a prciple. The first level is theologil and ethil: are homosexual relatnships wrong and therefore ntrary to the dive sign of marriage?

Fally, the third level is tactil: is the gay muny wise (or betrayg s own valu) to prs for the legalizatn of gay marriage, and are certa relig groups wise (or actg agast their terts) to oppose ? Jonathan Brown explas that the great majory of Mlim legal scholars, cg the lgs of Muhammad and the biblil story of Lot Sodom, have nmned homosexualy and sanctned wh severe punishments.

Yet homosexual relatnships have often flourished unrneath the surface Islam's most sophistited societi, and some liberal Mlims are now ntendg that Islam properly unrstood do not nmn homosexualy.