Why conservatives should support marriage equality
President Bush isn’t wrong about “judicial activism,” this columnist argues, but that doesn’t make him right about same-sex marriage. In fact, Bush’s own pleas to Muslims to support his war on terror can be used to argue in favor of tolerance for gay weddings.
By Mark Goldblatt 

President Bush’s support for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage—reiterated today, as same-sex couples begin to wed in Massachusetts—is neither thoughtless nor heartless, as his political foes are wont to suggest. But it is wrongheaded. Noting that “a few judges and local authorities are presuming to change the most fundamental institution of civilization,” Bush asserted in February that marriage “cannot be severed from its cultural, religious, and natural roots without weakening the good influence of society.” 

He’s at least half correct. In March the Massachusetts Supreme Court reiterated its decision of last November in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health which compelled the state to move toward granting same-sex couples marriage licenses. The court rejected the civil union compromise adopted by neighboring Vermont—an option Bush wants to reserve for state legislatures. Nothing less than a full recognition of marriage for gays and lesbians will satisfy the Massachusetts court. This makes sense since it had previously ruled that the state’s ban on same-sex marriage was irreconcilable with the principles of liberty and equality found in the state’s constitution and provided the legislature with 180 days to enact laws to make gay marriages possible. So the clock ticked down toward the May 17 deadline, and civil marriages have begun on schedule. 



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Black clergy urge Congressional Black Caucus to support gay marriage ban

Capitol Hill-AP -- Some ministers from black churches are demanding that the Congressional Black Caucus support a constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriage.

Flanked by other black pastors on Capitol Hill, Bishop Paul Morton declared that gay marriage "is not a civil right," but is "against the will of God" as revealed in the Bible.

He said lawmakers who support gay marriage "are asking the black African-American preacher to compromise what he believes as it relates to God."