Activists prepare for gay marriage decision
New Mexico Pastor Steve Smothermon says he is ready to go to jail to protect his religious freedom. And he is not the only one.
Smothermon
is one of more than 50,000 people who have signed a pledge to engage in
social disobedience if the U.S. Supreme Court issues a ruling this
month that would legalize same sex marriage across the country.
"We
want to help people, but we are not going to be forced by the
government and society or the politically correct to say we are going to
believe in it," said Smothermon, senior pastor of Legacy Church in
Albuquerque. "If they said, 'Listen pastor, we are going to put you in
jail if you don't honor this.' I am going to say, 'Then put me in jail.'
"
Emotions
are running high as the nation waits to see how the Court will rule on
whether states should be required to issue marriage licenses to same sex
couples and if a state should be forced to recognize same sex marriages
performed in another state. Some social conservatives argue that
recognizing same sex marriage will weaken the nation's moral fabric as
well as their religious freedom. Supporters of a constitutional right
for same sex marriage say it is high time the nation recognized these
unions.
No matter how the Court rules, it is expected to have dramatic political implications in the 2016 elections and beyond.
Shifting opinion
Until
recent years, same sex marriage has been an issue relegated to the
shadows, as politicians either did not support or would not publicly
endorse it.
And
it wasn't just Republicans who opposed same sex marriage. In 1996,
President Bill Clinton signed the Defense of Marriage Act -- a law that
defined marriage as being between a woman and man. Clinton would later
disavow his decision. President Barack Obama waited until 2012, seven
months before Election Day, to announce his support of the right for
gays and lesbians to marry.
Support
of same sex marriage by elected officials tracks with changing public
opinion on the issue. A majority of Americans, 63%, believe that gays
and lesbians have a constitutional right to get married, according to a
May CNN/ORC International Poll. In August 2010, the CNN/ORC poll showed
that 51% of Americans believed that gays and lesbians did not have a
constitutional right to marry.
"It
is amazing thing for someone like me, who has been in politics for 35
years now, to see in your own lifetime an issue going from being a
strong negative for your party to being a strong positive the way gay
marriage has," said Richard Socarides, an openly gay Democrat, who
served as a senior adviser to President Clinton. "Democrats supported
gay rights and never wanted to talk about it and Republicans opposed gay
rights and always wanted to talk about it. It has completely shifted in
a very short period of time."
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EXPAND GALLERY
This
shift is particularly pronounced with Democrats and Independents. The
2010 CNN/ORC poll shows that 56% of Democrats and 57% of Independents
supported a constitutional right for gays and lesbians to be married. In
the latest CNN/ORC poll, support for a constitutional right for same
sex marriage jumped to 74% for Democrats and 69% for Independents.
Republicans
have also moved towards supporting same sex marriage, but a majority
remains opposed. The May CNN/ORC poll showed that 60% of Republicans do
not support a constitutional right to same sex marriage; in the 2010
CNN/ORC poll, 73% of Republicans were against it.
Dividing the GOP
Complicating
matters for the GOP is that same sex marriage is a divisive issue
within its own party. It not only pits social conservatives against
centrist-leaning Republicans, but also younger people against their
parents and grandparents.
The
May CNN/ORC poll showed that 59% of Republican and Republican-leaning
independents under the age of 50 supported a constitutional right for
gays and lesbians to marry, while 61% did not.
Growing
support for same sex marriage among young Republicans, polling data and
the fact it is already legal in 37 states and the District of Columbia
is enough for some in the party to say it is time to let the issue go.
In March, former Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman, who
is gay, and more than 300 GOP office holders, activists and operatives
including former Illinois Republican Party Chairman Pat Brady submitted a
brief to the Court expressing support for same sex marriage.
Brady,
who stepped down as chairman in 2013 after sparring with social
conservatives for supporting same sex marriage in Illinois, said it is
not productive for the GOP to continue fighting this issue.
"When
we run as the party of big ideas we do very well," said Brady. "Whether
you agree or disagree on how the court has ruled, we need to focus on
electing a Republican president."
Still,
there is strong opposition in the GOP when it comes embracing same sex
marriage, and social conservatives want to put people on the record on
this issue -- specifically those running for the White House.
"We
need to make sure we have presidential candidates standing up for
religious liberty," said Brian Brown, president of the National
Organization for Marriage.
Brown's organization will unveil a 2016 presidential pledge Thursday,
asking candidates to publicly state their support for marriage between
one man and one woman. He said they would begin contacting campaigns
immediately asking them to sign the pledge, much like Mitt Romney and
other GOP presidential candidates did in 2012.
Already,
two Republican presidential candidates, Mike Huckabee and Rick
Santorum, have added their names to the Defend Marriage Pledge, the
online document Smothermon and 50,000 other people have signed in which
they vow to ignore the Court's ruling if it violates the teachings of
their faiths.
"A
decision purporting to redefine marriage flies in the face of the
Constitution and is contrary to the natural created order," reads the
pledge. "As people of faith we pledge obedience to our Creator when the
State directly conflicts with higher law. We respectfully warn the
Supreme Court not to cross this line."
Dr.
Rick Scarborough, who helped launch the Defend Marriage Pledge, said it
is critical for people to come together to fight for religious liberty.
Scarborough, founder of the Judeo-Christian advocacy organization
Vision America, said he is concerned that the government will try to
force people and organizations to ignore the teachings of their faith
and accept same sex marriage. In addition, he warned that if the Court
ruled in favor of same sex marriage, it would a "slippery slope"
resulting in the enactment of new laws that would further encroach on
people's religious liberties.
Scarborough
noted that California and New Jersey have already passed laws in recent
years outlawing "reparative therapy," which supporters claim will help
turn a person's sexual orientation from homosexual to heterosexual. (The
American Psychiatric Association disagrees and opposes such treatment).
"The real issue for us is the effort to silence us for what we believe is true," Scarborough said.
Ted
Olson, former solicitor general of the United States under President
George W. Bush, said he does "not think anyone's religious liberty would
be violated" if the Court rules in favor of same sex marriage.
"I
do not believe someone would force a member of the clergy to perform a
marriage," said Olson, who successfully argued to overturn California's
prohibition on same sex marriage. But Olson did add that merchants would
be prevented from asking personal questions of potential customers.
"If
you are in the commercial world, just as in the case of race, I do not
think if you have a bake shop you can ask someone their sexual
orientation," he said.
Issues for 2016
Opponents and supporters agree that regardless of how the Court rules on same sex marriage, the issue is not going away.
"We
will work to overturn any illegitimate Supreme Court ruling and we will
make sure that folks understand that it is an illegitimate ruling by
the Court," said Brown, who will be present outside the Court on the day
of the ruling.
Adam
Talbot, spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign, said his organization
would continue to fight for equality even if the Court rules in favor of
same sex marriage, because people who identify themselves as lesbian,
gay, bisexual and transgender are "still at risk for discrimination."
And
expect to hear same sex marriage and religious liberty discussed on the
campaign trail in the coming months -- like Hillary Clinton and Jeb
Bush each did this past week.
"They
turn their backs on gay people who love each other," Clinton said at a
campaign rally over the weekend, accusing the Republican candidates of
refusing to back same sex marriage.
Bush warned that if Clinton is elected president she would work to weaken their religious freedoms.
"These
have been rough years for religious charities and their right of
conscience," Bush said. "And the leading Democratic candidate recently
hinted of more trouble to come. Secretary Clinton insists that when the
progressive agenda encounters religious beliefs to the contrary those
beliefs, quote, 'have to be changed.'
"That's what she said, and I guess we should at least thank her for the warning."
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