I don't give a damn about gay marriage
There. I said it. I think that all of this a waste of everyone's time when we have actually important issues to be dealing with.
Was the recent Court of Appeals decision deciding on gay marriage important? Absolutely. Greg Kline does an excellent legal analysis of the decision in the latest Conservative Refuge podcast. I am pleased that the Court of Appeals refrained itself from legislating from the bench. And if the people of Maryland wish to legalize gay marriage, their voices can be heard through their legislators.
But you know something? The concept of two people of the same sex getting married doesn't give me heartburn. I couldn't possibly care less what two consenting adults do. What gives me heartburn is the concept of government caring who can marry whom. In the eyes of government, marriage is a contract; nothing more, nothing less. By spending so much worrying about it is advocating for big government conservatism to me. Sorry.
But thank god that Mike Miller (of all people) hopefully put this issue to bed for the foreseeable future. Because for god's sake, issues that matter need to be dealt with, as the Capital points out in their editorial today...
Was the recent Court of Appeals decision deciding on gay marriage important? Absolutely. Greg Kline does an excellent legal analysis of the decision in the latest Conservative Refuge podcast. I am pleased that the Court of Appeals refrained itself from legislating from the bench. And if the people of Maryland wish to legalize gay marriage, their voices can be heard through their legislators.
But you know something? The concept of two people of the same sex getting married doesn't give me heartburn. I couldn't possibly care less what two consenting adults do. What gives me heartburn is the concept of government caring who can marry whom. In the eyes of government, marriage is a contract; nothing more, nothing less. By spending so much worrying about it is advocating for big government conservatism to me. Sorry.
But thank god that Mike Miller (of all people) hopefully put this issue to bed for the foreseeable future. Because for god's sake, issues that matter need to be dealt with, as the Capital points out in their editorial today...
posted by Brian Griffiths at 5:54 PM
4 Comments:
I agree
Respectfully, I could not disagree more. Yes there are more important things in the coming session but the definition of family and the fight for our traditional culture is very significant.
Be libertarian with regard to marriage if you wish but the issue really has to do with the acceptance of homosexuality and a radical redefinition of Maryland's and our nation's culture. The court recognized as much in its decision.
And it does not require bigger government only doing what government has done since the founding of our state.
I don't agree with Greg's analysis of the case. The court did not go where Greg may have wanted it go; indeed, the court made flatly clear that nothing stood in the way of the General Assembly passing a same-sex marriage statute if it chose, and did not entertain any discussions of "radical redefinitions" of "our nation's culture."
Perhaps had Greg written the opinion, those words or concepts would be there, but Judge Harrell did not channel these arch-conservative, non-legal concepts into his ruling. This decision was one of institutional restraint, not a revanchist call to the barricades against some perceived gay horde threat to our (?) culture with wedding vows and parental aspirations in tow. I don't know that Greg's culture is my culture, though we are both (I think) native Marylanders of roughly the same age.
Nothing in this comment should be taken ad hominem toward Greg Kline, whom I regard as a good man and a good attorney with whom I have a philosophical and jurisprudential disagreement.
I think Brian was voicing his frustration about the circumstances surrounding the gay marriage debate. I was frustrated with it as well. Alas, the Court of Appeals did its job and got it right. The energy that was expended fighting Murdock's opinion could have been saved for more important issues.
As a realist, the definition of "family" is not what it was fifty years ago. Am I happy with that? No. However, I don't see us going back to the "good ol days."
I do think the downfall of the nuclear family and our traditional culture has caused a LOT of damage. Family values made this country strong. I do not think homosexuality is the sole reason why the nuclear family has fallen apart. There is a huge list (i.e. socialistic ideas, downfall of religion, television, lack of good role models, the idea of marriage becoming a formality and not a true commitment, and most importantly, David Kyle).
In order to fight for traditional values, we need to spread out our energy and start teaching the importance of marriage itself.
There is nothing wrong with libertarians.
Post a Comment
<< Home