As Alaska’s marriage law unravels, we must speak the truth

CatholicAnchor.org

Responding to a court decision, Alaskans in 1998 passed a constitutional amendment with more than 68 percent of voters defining marriage as being between one man and one woman. Other states followed, until more than 30 had also done so. The judiciary has now struck back, including in Alaska. In October, Federal Judge Timothy Burgess declared that Alaska’s constitutional definition of marriage is harmful, demeaning, disrespectful, unjustified and irrational.

In Louisiana, another federal judge reached an opposite conclusion, stating that the “meaning of marriage that has endured in history for thousands of years, and prevails in a majority of the states today, is not universally irrational on the constitutional grid.” Contra Judge Burgess in Alaska, the Louisiana judge refused to “demean the democratic process.” A similar decision followed from a federal judge in Puerto Rico and, significantly, last month a panel of the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers the Midwest, overturned lower court decisions and thereby affirmed that states have the right to establish marriage rules with any change in those rules coming through the democratic process. If the full court does not reverse, it sets up a conflict between various circuit courts which requires a Supreme Court decision. There, the four liberal justices are in lockstep on gay marriage, and they will almost certainly be joined by Justice Anthony Kennedy who has driven this revolution. A 5 to 4 decision against traditional marriage is the likely outcome.

But establishing same-sex marriage as the law of the land is not the end of the marriage revolution.

The aggressive nature of the homosexual rights lobby requires that all dissent be suppressed. Examples already abound. In 2012 there was a battle over the proposed Anchorage sexual orientation ordinance that had sought to establish sexual orientation as a protected legal class. Proponents insisted falsely that churches would not be affected, only to admit in private that they would be. If the ordinance had passed, individuals would have had no right to act on their moral or religious beliefs about human sexuality. We know of photographers and bake shop owners severely penalized under such ordinances in other states for refusing to promote or facilitate same-sex unions. Just this past October, ordained ministers who run a wedding chapel in Idaho were accused of violating a city nondiscrimination ordinance for refusing to perform homosexual marriages in their chapel. The mayor of Houston, Texas, demanded copies of sermons to see if preaching had violated Houston’s ordinance. There is a pervasive “take no prisoners” attitude. It will get worse.

If the U.S. Supreme Court affirms a constitutional right to same-sex marriage, the next step will be polyamorous marriages (more than one spouse). All the arguments for destroying traditional marriage to favor homosexuals apply to polyamorous marriage. Groups have formed, symbols created, pseudo expert studies published, and legal challenges are in the early stages. The pattern has already been set. The judiciary will decide. Citizens have no say.

What else lurks in the U.S. Constitution that can be used to redo the social order? Is there any role left for the people to play? We don’t know. The rules of constitutional law are vague and inexact, so anything is possible. There are only two constitutional rules the public needs to know. One: how to count to five, the number required for a Supreme Court majority. Two: as Justice Scalia said in last year’s “DOMA” case, the court will do anything it believes it can get away with.

While the judges have taken over the game on marriage, it is only at the 11th hour. For the past 40 years the old norms have been under relentless attack. Marriage has declined; divorce and cohabitation have climbed; and out-of-wedlock pregnancy has skyrocketed. The old deviancies have become the new norm, and the old morality the new deviancy. The children have suffered the worse, and because of that the future looks bleak. Political action alone cannot avoid the social and cultural disaster we find ourselves in. The Gospel must be preached, Jesus commanded, in season and out. The moral law, taught to the patriarchs, Israelites and by the apostles and their successors the bishops, must be preached from the pulpit and taught in our schools and religion classes. The prophets warned the people of Israel of the disasters they would bring upon themselves by going their own way. It is time for prophecy again. Whether it works or not is in God’s hands. Ours is the duty to speak.

The writer practiced law in Anchorage for 46 years and is a founding member of the Anchorage St. Thomas More Society.