Regardless of anyone's views on gay marriage we must face one inevitable outcome if the marriages are allowed to stand even though in violation of current local laws. The justification is that "equality under the law" trumps the lesser laws which are therefore unconstitutional, null and void.
Actually, I personally agree with that concept and it is enforced by several of this nation's founders. The whole idea of the constitution and the Bill of Rights was to protect the people from a government that may someday be out of control and deny basic human rights by force of new laws. But the basic rights DO supercede the lesser laws and they in fact MAY be violated in favour of the supreme law of the land as it is spelled out in the US and State constitutions.
So now we have various groups that have been saying this for years (militias and gun owners for example). On what basis are these groups to be restrained now? If I am pulled over for a traffic ticket I can say that my rights are being violated and cite various parts of the constitution but the law says "too bad". Only after years of jangling in the courts can I hope to have my complaint heard.
In the instance of gay marriages public officials have violated the 'lesser laws' and now claim they acted lawfully. It seems like this opens up a huge can of worms. Can we put them back in the can or should we just allow everyone to follow the constitutuion as they see fit and as they interpret it? Please don't argue here about the pros and cons of gay marriage as that is not the topic of this thread.
Actually, I personally agree with that concept and it is enforced by several of this nation's founders. The whole idea of the constitution and the Bill of Rights was to protect the people from a government that may someday be out of control and deny basic human rights by force of new laws. But the basic rights DO supercede the lesser laws and they in fact MAY be violated in favour of the supreme law of the land as it is spelled out in the US and State constitutions.
So now we have various groups that have been saying this for years (militias and gun owners for example). On what basis are these groups to be restrained now? If I am pulled over for a traffic ticket I can say that my rights are being violated and cite various parts of the constitution but the law says "too bad". Only after years of jangling in the courts can I hope to have my complaint heard.
In the instance of gay marriages public officials have violated the 'lesser laws' and now claim they acted lawfully. It seems like this opens up a huge can of worms. Can we put them back in the can or should we just allow everyone to follow the constitutuion as they see fit and as they interpret it? Please don't argue here about the pros and cons of gay marriage as that is not the topic of this thread.
Comment