SUPPORT FOR FEDERAL MARRIAGE AMENDMENT GROWS

By Michael J. McManus

An Oregon judge recently delivered a historic victory to advocates of same-sex marriage—the nation’s first judicial recognition of such unions.

Multnomah County Circuit Judge Frank Bearden ordered the county to stop issuing same-sex marriage licenses but directed Oregon’s legislature to recognize the 3,022 licenses already issued since March 3 and to pass a law legalizing same-sex unions.

This echoes the November 2003 ruling by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, which declared that gay couples have a constitutional right to marry and ordered the state legislature to implement same-sex marriage within 180 days—by May 17, 2004.

Instead, the legislature began drafting a constitutional amendment defining marriage as between one man and one woman—but also creating civil unions, effectively “marriage by another name.” The amendment must pass again in 2005 and then win voter approval in 2006. Governor Mitt Romney, a Republican, asked the court to delay implementation pending this process, but the Democratic Attorney General supports the ruling—making a stay unlikely.

Both cases reflect judicial activism: courts ordering legislatures to enact laws on deeply moral and social issues—traditionally the domain of elected representatives.

Meanwhile, San Francisco’s mayor unilaterally directed clerks to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, despite a statewide referendum affirming traditional marriage.

In response, Matt Daniels—a lawyer raised in Spanish Harlem by a single mother after his father abandoned the family—proposed a long-shot solution: a Federal Marriage Amendment stating, “Marriage in the United States shall consist only of the union of a man and a woman. Neither this Constitution nor the constitution of any state shall be construed to require that marriage or the legal incidents thereof be conferred upon any union other than the union of a man and a woman.”

Having witnessed firsthand the consequences of fatherlessness—crime, poverty, instability—Daniels believes marriage is foundational to societal health. He founded the Alliance for Marriage and secured early support from Rev. Walter Fauntroy, a former aide to Martin Luther King Jr., as well as Black denominations, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and the National Association of Evangelicals.

Public support for the amendment has grown from 55% in July 2003 to 64%. President George W. Bush, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, and 118 members of Congress back it.

However, some conservatives, like Concerned Women for America’s Janet LaRue, worry the amendment allows states to create “phony marriage” through civil unions—as Vermont has done.

Few Democrats support the measure, and public engagement remains low. Yet unless citizens actively defend traditional marriage through constitutional means, same-sex marriage may become widespread by judicial fiat.

END

© 2004 Michael J. McManus

Michael J. McManus is Co-Founder & President of Marriage Savers, Potomac, MD.