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Monday, May 14, 2012

President Obama and Gay 'Marriage'

Last week President Obama came out in support of gay 'marriage.' (Selections from the video in which he made the remarks can be viewed here). Moreover, the Presidents' itinerary suggests that he will have more to say on the subject of same-sex 'marriage' in the days immediately ahead.

Everyone is talking about this announcement, together with the remarks of Vice President Biden that preceded it, as if it is a real shock. To those who have been carefully watching the president, however, it comes as no surprise. Last year President Obama told the Justice Department and Attorney General Eric Holder to no longer defend the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in the federal courts.

DOMA was signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 1996 and mandates that the federal government can only recognize a union between one man and one woman as being a ‘marriage’. DOMA also restricts benefits to married couples.
 
The Attorney General also announced last year (on Feb. 23) that the President believes DOMA discriminates against homosexuals by denying them marital benefits.

The final stage in this process will either be for individual states or the federal government itself to grant legal recognition to same-sex 'marriage.' If and when that ever happens, we know from the example of Sweden what the result will be.

In an article I published this morning with the Colson Center, I showed that ever since 2009 when the Swedish government passed a gender neutral marriage law, allowing for homosexual “marriages,” the nation has been working overtime to try to eradicate gender distinctions from every other facet of life. There is a relentless logic at work. After all, if the distinctions between men and women do not matter with respect to marriage, then we might legitimately ask where you draw the line. If it is the case (as advocates of same-sex “marriage”, and now the President, argue is the case) that trying to preserve gender distinctions with respect to marriage is an act of discrimination, sexism, and bigotry, then why is it legitimate to maintain these distinctions in any area of life? That is the question Sweden is now asking, and the answers they are giving are hardly reassuring. To read my article about this, click on the following link:


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