When the Supreme Court ruled that states can no longer ban same-sex marriages, it set off a cacophony of howling hyperbole by the GOP’s 14 presidential wannabes.
“I will not acquiesce to an imperial court,” blustered Mike Huckabee. “Resist and reject judicial tyranny,” he bellowed. Huck even couched his cry for continued discrimination against gay people by likening it to Abe Lincoln’s principled refusal to honor the Court’s 1857 ruling that African-Americans could not be citizens. Sure, Mike, you’re a modern-day Lincoln – except that he was opposing discrimination, while you’re demanding that government enforce it!
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Then came the wild hair of the GOP’s presidential menagerie, Donnie Trump, blathering that the gay marriage decision is Jeb Bush’s fault. Really. The Donald explained that Jeb’s brother George had appointed Chief Justice John Roberts to the Court, so… there you have it. Shhhh – let’s not spoil Trump’s hallucination by telling him that Roberts actually voted against letting gays marry.
Now on to Scott Walker, who’s touted as the “serious” contender, yet, he’s seriously pushing a constitutional amendment to let government keep prohibiting same-sex marriages. “No one wants to live in a country where the government coerces people to act in opposition to their conscience,” said Scott, apparently oblivious to the fact that state governments have long been coercing LGBT people to do exactly that. And now Walker is promising, if elected, to coerce them right back into a life of unconscionable injustice.
Every one of the 14 Republican presidential candidates is marching backwards into the bigoted past, piously thumbing their noses not only at millions of gays and lesbians, but also at the ever-growing majority of Americans – especially young people – who support marriage equality.
“GOP White House hopefuls deride gay marriage ruling,” Austin American Statesman, June 28, 2015.
“G.O.P. Hopefuls Denounce Marriage Equality Ruling,” The New York Times, June 29, 2015.
“Marriage Equaltiy in America,” The New York Times, June 27, 2015.
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