With the U.S. Supreme Court expected to rule on same-sex-marriage any day now, and most pundits expecting a decision that is favorable to homosexual Americans, many opponents of equal rights are planning to defy the high court’s decision.
Over 50,000 people – including the beleaguered Duggar family of TLC stardom and presidential hopefuls Rick Santorum and Mike Huckabee – have signed a statement saying they will refuse to honor a decision that violates their “clear biblical understanding of marriage.” Apparently, they would have U.S. law always coincide with their own religious beliefs. It’s odd that two presidential hopefuls and over 50,000 other people are in need of a basic civics lesson on the First Amendment, but I suspect it’s more of a willful ignorance than a genuine misunderstanding.
Same-sex marriage opponents often champion a “biblical understanding of marriage.” Besides being a religious argument and thus an insufficient justification on its own to uphold a law in the United States, this idea of “traditional” marriage is an obsolete concept, anyway. Marriage has always been evolving, and a “traditional” marriage has been everything from a business transaction between families, to women being essentially the property of their husbands in the U.S., as recently as the 19th century — not to mention the fact that biblical heroes of the Old Testament didn’t even subscribe to the “one woman” philosophy. Simply put, there is no such thing as “traditional” marriage, and there is no rational, non-biblical reason to justify denying homosexual Americans equal rights.
The mainstream of opposition to same-sex marriage usually argues that it violates the religious “sanctity” of the institution that they claim has always been between one man and one woman, and thus should be illegal. The problem with this reasoning is that the government has no role in creating laws based on Christian ideas of “sanctity” any more than it has a role carrying out orders of an Ayatollah. A secular society like the United States must treat all of its citizens the same, including the ones that happen to not subscribe to a traditional Christian view of marriage, or a Muslim view of marriage, or anything else.
Granting same-sex couples civil unions isn’t enough either, as that solution ignores what marriage in the United States really is. State-sanctioned marriage is a social, cultural and economic part of most people’s lives, and it’s impossible to understate its importance for families. Granting homosexual couples a “separate but equal” status simply isn’t true equality. To relegate them to the status of second-class citizens is unfair to them, their families and most importantly their children, who are statistically more successful if their parents are married. Many of the politicians that claim to champion family values first and foremost, but are anti-marriage rights – including nearly all of the contenders for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination – should think about that. Marriage is not just a religious sacrament anymore. It is an integral part of the modern family.
A favorable Supreme Court ruling will not force churches to perform or even recognize same-sex marriages. The sun will still rise the next day, and pigs will not gain the ability to fly. If the Duggars, Huckabees and Santorums of the world want to continue to live by their antiquated prejudices, then they will be perfectly free to do so. However, the United States will be made stronger when all of its citizens are treated equally under the law, and the religious qualms of a few have no place in the laws of our country. It’s 2015, and it’s time for same-sex marriage to be legal in all 50 states.
Kyle Simpson is a junior majoring in biology. His column runs biweekly.
