I have no idea why citizens waste thousands of signatures, volunteer hours and tax payer money to put anti-gay marriage legislation on the ballot in a state.
Moreover
it escapes me why anyone in their right mind doesn’t see how or why such
legislation always ends up being more trouble than it’s worth.
These
laws always attract lawsuits, scandals and media to otherwise unimportant and
looked over places like South Dakota.
Last week
South Dakota got itself noticed by national media for something other than a
mad cow scare because of recently married lesbian couple Ashley Stabe and Amy
Stabe. Amy and Ashely got marriage legally in Iowa and decided to move to South
Dakota for an even simpler life.
Unfortunately
their transition hit a bit of snag for Amy Stabe, or according to South Dakota’s
Department of Motor Vehicles Amy Mutton. Amy Stabe’s name was legally changed
from Mutton to Stabe when she got married in Iowa, but the state of South Dakota
has refused to acknowledge her changed social security card, credit cards and a
whole slew of other documentation that clearly shows she has changed her name.
Why? Because to give Amy Mutton a new drivers license with the name Amy Stabe,
according to state officials, would be a state acknowledgment of a gay
marriage, something that voters said “No” to in a statewide referendum in 2006.
The
stupidity of the South Dakota law is a given. It is really none of the business
of a state with more cattle than people to be telling other sentient human
beings what to do with their hearts or body parts. However in their zealousness
to stop the “gay plague” the anti-gay marriage citizens of South Dakota have
turned what should be a routine bureaucratic matter into a state – and likely
federal – case that will likely bring down the entire referendum. The Stabes,
with the help of the state ACLU, are already heading to court on this matter.
One of
the biggest problems with anti-gay legislation is that such policies violate
basic American norms, stem from political dirty tricks and ultimately often
violate the constitution. In America people have the freedom to live how they
wish, even if everyone else around them doesn’t like it. If an individual doesn’t
like gay marriage they can simply chose to not have one.
In a
similar manner if I don’t like Satan worshipers I don’t have to paint a
hexagram on my driveway. However, I have no right to go out and petition the
government to stop other people from worshiping Satan no matter how offensive
it is to me personally unless I can prove that their behavior directly harms me
– not offends or annoys but directly prevents me from living my life in any way
that I wish. That is an American norm.
In
addition, anti-gay marriage legislation is from the old George Bush/Karl Rove
dirty tricks playbook to get out evangelical conservatives for elections. Bush
did little or nothing to end gay marriage on the federal level because he didn’t
care, he knew it was a tool to motivate voters and South Dakotans anti-gay
crusaders fell for it.
Finally
all of these laws are bound to fail when challenged in the courts because they
violate the full faith and credit clause of the constitution which is essential
to the American way of life. The clause was one of the key differences
between the articles of confederation and our current constitution. It states
that laws in one state have to be honored and enforced in others. Without it, a
contract between business partners in Virginia could be ignored in Ohio, a
product order in Michigan could be considered invalid in Texas, etc.
Consequently a marriage in Iowa will be proven valid in South Dakota by any
federal court. To rule otherwise the very fabric of America would unravel.
The irony
is that states like South Dakota and others are willing to pass legislation
that strikes at the very core of what it is to be an American just so that they
can supposedly stop an action that they think strikes at the core of
Christianity. That is their right. The problem is that we live in the United
States of America, not the United States of Christianity. And to the degree
that state legislators and citizens forget that difference they lead our nation
down a dangerous path.
Jason
Johnson is an associate professor of political science and communications at
Hiram College in Ohio, where he teaches courses in campaigns and elections, pop
culture and the politics of sports.
