NASSAU COUNTY CIVIC ASSOCIATION, INC. "The government is us, we are the government, you and I." Teddy Roosevelt

Wink, Wink, nod, nod 

The President's position on marriage

The president finally admitted what most Americans knew all along, he personally supports homosexual marriage. During a interview today with ABC News, the President claiming that he has "evolved" on the issue stated, “At a certain point I’ve just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same sex couples should be able to get married,”. The facts contradict his new awakening. The President first came out for same-sex marriage back in 1996 when running for the state Senate in Illinois. When he ran for the US Senate and later for President, he changed positions. In 2008 he declared,  "I believe marriage is the union between a man and a woman. Now for me as a Christian....it is a sacred union." Yet his actions to undermine traditional marriage as President prove he never "evolved", he just came out of the political closet in desperation and for money by appealing to his extreme base.

If the President really opposed same-sex marriage, he would have defended the Federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). The law passed in 1996 and signed into law by President Clinton allows states to determine the definition of marriage and not being forced to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states. The law also makes clear for federal purposes that the United States government recognizes marriage as the union of one man and one woman. The law does not bar states from enacting homosexual marriage or parallel legal schemes that grant recognition to homosexual couples. The President as chief executive takes an oath of office to defend and protect the constitution and the laws of the United States. It is well established that laws passed by congress are presumed constitutional. If a court of competent jurisdiction determines otherwise, the President has a duty to defend the law and has an ethical responsibility not to substitute his opinion for the law or disregard federal law. In 2010, the President, a Harvard constitutional scholar came to the conclusion that DOMA was no longer constitutional and then directed his Attorney General to stop defending the law which is now being defended by Congress.  

When it came to his signature issue, ObamaCare, the President lectured the courts not to override the will of a "majority" of congress which  passed the healthcare law. In particular he stated, "I'm confident that the Supreme Court will not take what would be an unprecedented, extraordinary step of overturning a law that was passed by a strong majority of a democratically elected Congress...., and I'd just remind conservative commentators that for years what we've heard is the biggest problem on the bench was judicial activism or a lack of judicial restraint, that an unelected group of people would somehow overturn a duly constituted and passed law. Well, this is a good example. And I'm pretty confident that this court will recognize that and not take that step." His comments caused an appeals court hearing the case to request an explanation by the Attorney General. In his reply brief, the Attorney General acknowledged that laws passed by congress are presumed constitutional and that the courts have the exclusive role in deciding if a law is constitutional. By taking unilateral action to refuse to defend DOMA, the President made it clear that he supported homosexual marriage by any means necessary.  

What is actually the difference between DOMA and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act? Well besides the subject matter, congress passed the Defense of Marriage Act overwhelming even garnering the vote of then Senator Biden. The vote in the House was 342-67 and the Senate, 85-14. The law which was passed by a bi-partisan majority, has withstood legal challenge and has significant public support. Every time homosexual marriage has gone before voters, it has been defeated thirty two times (Arizona passed a ban after a second vote). ObamaCare barely passed congress. The vote in the House was 219-212 and 60-39 in the Senate. The vote was not bi-partisan, not one Republican voted for the law. The majority of states have filed suit in federal court to declare the law unconstitutional, a significant majority of voters oppose the law and the law's fate is in the hands of the U.S. Supreme Court. The big difference is the President support of his healthcare law and his opposition to traditional marriage.

The President stated in his interview that it was his personal opinion and he wants to leave it up to the states to decide but again, he is being dishonest. The President has called for the repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act. If the law is repealed, states will have no choice but to recognize any relationship defined as marriage from another state. If DOMA is repealed, it's a question as to whether states will have the right to determine the definition of marriage on their own. Under the full faith and credit clause of the constitution, states are required to recognize the acts of other states such as recognizing driver licenses. Repeal would likely have the effect of circumventing each state constitution and or state law that defines marriage thus federalizing homosexual marriage. Again, actions tell the story.

North Carolina recently voted to define marriage as the union of one man and one women for all legal purposes. The President criticized the will of the voters. His North Carolina spokesman, Cameron French issued a statement stating, "He believes the North Carolina measure singles out and discriminates against committed gay and lesbian couples, which is why he did not support it. President Obama has long believed that gay and lesbian couples deserve the same rights and legal protections as straight couples and is disappointed in the passage of this amendment,". Then the President's campaign advisor David Axelrod came clean, "he believes it's unconstitutional for states not to recognize, the government not to recognize, uh, marriages, uh, that are legally recognized by the state." So much for his view that it should be left up to the states.

After pushing through a repeal of the military's Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy last year during a lame duck session of congress, the President ordered the Department of Defense to allow military chaplains to perform homosexual marriages on bases where there "marriages" are legal. During the debate over repeal, the President and his allies insisted that repeal had nothing to do with same-sex marriage. Yet after the law was repealed, the President admitted, "As I said before, I have a whole bunch of really smart lawyers who are looking at a whole range of options. My preference wherever possible is to get things done legislatively because I think it -- it gains a legitimacy, even among people who don't like the change, that is valuable." The option the President has relied on most to circumvent the law is the use of countless executive orders that recognize same-sex couples for marriage like benefits by federal agencies. Again, any means necessary irrespective of the law.

The President finally admitted who he really is. Let's see how it resonates with voters.