Excluded no more
Published June 27, 2015
Editorial by Greensboro News-Record, June 27, 2015.
It always has seemed a peculiar trope that gay couples who wanted to wed somehow were besmirching the institution.
Justice Anthony Kennedy addressed that question while writing for the majority in a historic 5-4 U.S. Supreme Court ruling Friday that legalizes same-sex marriages in all 50 states.
“It would misunderstand these men and women to say they disrespect the idea of marriage,” Kennedy wrote. “Their plea is that they do respect it, respect it so deeply that they seek to find its fulfillment for themselves. Their hope is not to be condemned to live in loneliness, excluded from one of civilization’s oldest institutions. They ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law. The Constitution grants them that right.”
The ruling lets stand the law in North Carolina, where a federal judge last fall overturned a constitutional amendment that banned gay marriage. It also ensures the rights to inheritances, power of attorney and medical visitation that the rest of us take for granted.
Marriage is a “keystone of the nation’s social order,” Kennedy wrote, adding that there is “no difference between same- and opposite-sex couples with respect to this principle.”
The ruling should help put to rest some familiar myths:
Gay marriage endangers heterosexual marriage. Is this to suggest that allowing same-sex marriages discourage heterosexuals from getting married? If so, how?
It violates the faith of many Americans. Legalizing same-sex marriage doesn’t force anyone into a gay marriage. Nor does it compel clergy who don’t believe in gay weddings to preside over them.
Banning gay marriage traditional marriages stronger. Denying gays equal access to marriage makes betrothed heterosexuals more faithful, committed and loving to one another? Really?
The fact is, North Carolina legalized gay marriage eight months ago and the world didn’t end. According to left-leaning Public Policy Polling, 69 percent of North Carolinians now say legalized gay marriage has had either a positive effect or no effect on their lives. A recent Pew Research Center poll found that 57 percent of Americans support same-sex marriage. The number of states that had legalized same-sex marriage before Friday’s ruling had swollen to 36.
Stuck in reverse and ignoring the prevailing winds in the courts, the Republican-controlled General Assembly has passed a law, SB 2, that allows magistrates to refuse to perform gay marriages if doing so would violate “sincerely held” religious beliefs. The high court’s ruling doesn’t invalidate that law, but it might add weight to legal challenges.
While some Republicans vowed to keep fighting, state House Speaker Tim Moore and Senate leader Phil Berger (for now, at least) conceded defeat in a joint statement.
“While this decision is disappointing,” they said, “we respect the ruling and will continue to work to ensure North Carolina complies with the law of the land.”
We can only hope they really mean that. A ruling that favors fairness over exclusion —and compassion over fear — deserves respect from us all.
