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Courts, Not Obama's Pronouncement, Will Determine Fate of Gay Marriage

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What this article leaves out in its reasoning is pretty significant. The activists who support same-sex marriage are essentially asking federal courts to overturn the express will of voters in thirty-odd states.
The comparison to Roe v. Wade is flawed at best. Abortion had never been an issue that went before voters in referenda and been turned down in even the most liberal states. Abortion was legal for any reason in some. Legal only in the case of exceptions dealing with the health of the mother, rape and incest in others. Wholly illegal in most of the states.
Yes, Roe, in my opinion as a conservative, was flawed and premature jurisprudence, but the issue of gay marriage is another altogether. In Roe, it could be argued that the Court was just speeding along uncooperative state legislatures in order to protect women. What is being proposed in the matter of SSM is for the justices not to overturn state lawmakers, but to invalidate the will of tens of millions of voters from every corner of the nation. A majority of the American population has had this question put before them at the ballot box. Som 60% of the states have voted on the matter. All have ended in the traditional definition of marriage being upheld. Mostly by strong to overwhelming margins.
In some ways this seems like trying to close the barn door after the horse has already gotten out. Had activists stopped these questions from ever appearing on state ballots, on grounds that such innate rights should not be up for a public vote and would constitute a violation of basic liberty, then this issue might have been kept out of the political arena. That didn't happen. Instead the issue went to the voters, sometimes with hopeful gay activists in support of putting the questions on the ballot.
Now we have the only answer that should matter in a society that is supposed to value ordered liberty. The best course would be to work at the state level to repeal these bans. It may well take voters in some states years to repeal the ban. The advantage in that approach is that it will reflect the actual evolution of voter opinion on the matter. So far the only proof I have seen of the American people's supposedly changed views on this matter is in opinion polling. The polling that counts, in ballot questions, has not demonstrated that alteration in viewpoint on SSM.

steve b of VA 10:46AM May 13, 2012

just be hapy we are not a muslim countrty being gay is a death sentence with poublic beheadings, Obama has violated the tenents of Islam by supporting this and homosexuality is not allowed in the bible either, no main stream religion supports it in thier great books.

jim q of NV 4:40AM May 13, 2012

Those protesting gay marriage r the same religious radicals who do/say nothing about divorce/remar-riage & vehemently support the death penalty: both expressly forbidden by Jesus. Many're divorced & remarried which, per the Bible & Jesus is adultery [punishable by death ] & hell.
They quote bits of Bible verses, ignoring Luke 17:31 which's been redacted/changed a # of times since the gay movement started [despite Revelation's caveat NOT to change a word]. In EVERY Bible b4 1963 Jesus says 'There were two men sleeping together in one bed: one was taken, one was left...." He left no doubt the men were homo-sexuals: a grave sin in those days but Jesus was making the point each person'd be judged based on their own merits. That verse's changed from 'Two men were sleeping & one was taken...' to 'There were two asleep in one bed..' now reduced to 'Jesus said "Two were asleep. One was taken & one left..." Gone completely are the men & the bed.
These radicals protest outside women's clinics [yet fight WIC/Medicaid once baby's here & believe it's OK w/G-d to murder abortion providers & bomb clinics. NONE know in the Bible G-D set the punishment 4 killing an unborn child: a FINE (!) set by a judge & paid to the FATHER for loss of property.
Many things the Bible demands r no longer allowed. We do not sell our daughters, most evangelicals like their BBQ'd pork even though Kosher laws actually have seriously good health benefits: like shellfish which spoil fast & carry huge amts of bacteria d/t their diet is the fecal/rotting materials of the seas same as scaleless fish. Pigs? They need just 4 hrs from snout to the other end: toxins, worm eggs etc are sucked into the muscle & fat as opposed to 'clean' animals which 'chew the cud' whose diets r mostly vegetable. Their diets are cleaner & their digestive systems filter out nasties.
We no longer force brothers to marry & beget children on widows to ensure the brother's name & inheritance'll pass on [this's the passage those claiming 'birth control's forbidden by the Bible' use. They get it wrong d/t they take the passage out of context. The man committed coitus interruptus i.e. spilling his seed onto the ground & was punished NOT for 'the sin' of birth control [which is NOT mentioned anywhere in the Bible], but for wilfully disobeying the rule of creating the brother's heir.
If those opposed to gay marriage'd simply admit they hate gays per se at least it'd be honest. These CINOs- Christian In Name Only help us understand why so many young people today reject religion. They see 'Christians' radicals waving Bibles in 1 hand, a hate sign in the other packing a handgun screaming epithets. The Bible says "You'll know they are Christians by their love". What love? Disrupting funerals? Screaming racial slurs against our Pres? Torture's ok as long as it's Muslims? Even demanding life w/o parole or even death sentences for kids as young as 12?
Jesus warned us false preachers would arise.
They're heeerrrrree!!

Rev. Maralee Koval of OH 5:26PM May 12, 2012

This is evil it is satanic these men and women is posses with demons this is NOT WHAT GOD HAVE INTENDED of us GOD will punish mankind for this evil that they are pursuing and for America GOD will deal personely with this nation that support such evil (evil men and women)

Joseph Williams of NY 9:18AM May 12, 2012

If this is a religious decision for you, please consider that, unless you are perfect, you are also a sinner and deserve no less and no more love and respect than any of your brothers or sisters.
If you understand the true love of our Father, then you understand that marriage laws from the US Government are a secular issue and would not use His name in vane to argue a secular issue.
If you are a Patriotic American, then you would understand as Jefferson did, that majority rule is never right for protecting Civil Rights. This is as much a question of pure Civil Rights as any in our history.
Last - the LGBT make up only about 10% of the population, so that means in every family of 10, there is likely a gay brother, sister, dad, mom, etc that a lot of people that are "straight" love, respect and will vote to protect.

Philip of TX 7:40AM May 12, 2012

Alex of Texas:
Your comments are exactly true. No President is stopped from voicing his opinion, and this was President Obama's opinion--just as you stated. This was NOT an official pronouncement, nor was it meant to influence anyone else's opinion. The topic of homosexuality in this country is so divisive, I do not feel that anyone's opinion of homosexuality and homosexual marriages will be changed at all by the President's opinion.
I do wonder how so many people misinterpret Obama's truthful statement of opinion, but totally "buy" the statements put forth by propaganda Websites and the infamous FOX Cable News?
Actually, President Obama probably felt obligated to "back up" Vice-President Biden who made a homosexual-marriage- statement the week before Obama did.
As the Vice-President serves at the will of the President, Obama may have spoken this week on homosexual marriage so that Pres. and Vice-Pres. were "on the record" as having similar viewpoints on a very divisive issue.

ann keenan of MI 8:47PM May 11, 2012

I can't believe this article actually made it into US News & World Report. It's the worst kind of silliness - asking an irrelevant question and answering it as if anyone took it seriously.
The word "pronouncement" in the headline exacerbates this misleading approach, since the most widely understood meaning of that is a "formal or authoritative statement." The President voiced an opinion in an interview - he did not make a pronouncement intended in any way to be taken as legal precedent, or expected to drive it.

Alex of TX 12:40PM May 11, 2012

Obama just moved it? I didn't vote for the man and plan on having a party in November when we throw this Chump in Chief under the electoral bus, so the only bar that got moved was the ambivilence I used to have has turned into resolve. When Romney is President I hope the first thing he does is launch an army of attorneys on everything Obama did as President and the people who are guilty of crimes un his Amdinistration (think Eric Holder and voter intimidation or his refusal to do his job like enforcing DOMA).

P of FL 12:38PM May 11, 2012

DaneMuhlig, I don't think you understand. The presidents statements/words are just his opinion. Whatever the courts decide does not mean God is beholden to it. If gay marriage becomes legal, to quote Lewis Black, "It's not like he'll let them into heaven." So I don't think you need to worry about it.

Doesn't Care of MO 12:20PM May 11, 2012