One of the organizations opposing the current effort to allow same-sex marriage in New York is New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms. Whose Constitutional freedoms? Apparently not those of same-sex couples. One of the most important of constitutional freedoms is the right to equal protection of the laws. How am I equal to my brother when he can marry the person of his choice, but I cannot?
I’m reminded of being at a conference where an opponent of same-sex marriage argued that, in permitting same-sex marriage, judges were depriving her of her right to vote. I kid you not. Apparently if you have the right to vote, then you have the right to vote on everything. I guess she should be able to vote on my religious beliefs as well. One of my favorite signs from a marriage protest is, "Can I Vote on Your Marriage?" I always want to ask married opponents of same-sex marriage how they could possibly have gotten married without my approval. They, after all, arrogate to themselves the right to disapprove of my choice of marriage partner.
New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms (NYCF) reminds me that opposition to same-sex marriage is really all about selfishness. Straight people get all sorts of goodies by getting married that they don’t want to have to share with anyone else. Similarly, NYCF wants constitutional freedoms, but only for people who behave the way NYCF members want them to.
This is analogous to the frequent Christian Right complaint that liberals are illegitimately excluding voices of people of faith from public discourse. This, of course, is foolishness. Christian conservatives have all manner of avenues for contributing to public discourse. The problem is that fewer and fewer Americans find conservative Christianity a compelling source of moral authority. In sum, hardly anyone cares any more what Christian conservatives think, so we’re mostly just not listening, except when they say something exceptionally outrageous or stupid.
Christian conservatives aren’t interested in equality – they want special privileges. They are right in claiming that public policy in the United States used to reflect more closely their preferences, but the fact that it does so less and less is not the result of some liberal conspiracy. It’s the result of millions of Americans exercising their freedom to organize their lives as they see fit – according to constitutional freedoms.