Should the government have the right to regulate the moral lives of citizens with respect to same-sex marriage?

Answer 1

No.

In the United States, the government of each state has always controlled the requirements for marriage. Each state, then, was always bound by the Constitution to recognize all marriages performed by other states and also recognized marriages performed in foreign countries.

In September 1996, however, President Clinton signed the Defense of Marriage Act ("DOMA") which purports to permit states to disregard marriages performed in other states based upon the gender and sexual orientation of the parties to the marriage. It also requires the federal government, for the first time in U.S. history, to ignore some legally performed marriages, thereby seeking to take away a power reserved to the states. Public officials from all three branches of the government have publicly stated that they feel this is obviously unconstitutional, even going so far as to ignore the flawed law.

In the United States, marriage is a civil matter not controlled by any religion. For example, if a Jew and a Catholic want to marry, but neither Jewish nor Catholic clergy will perform the marriage, the couple is free to marry before a justice of the peace (or judge). In this sense, religious organizations have never been able to prevent marriages between couples whose union they oppose.

The government does not regulate "morality" concerning the marriages of heterosexuals. Heterosexuals are permitted to divorce and remarry as many times as they want. They are free to marry strangers from the internet, child abusers, convicted felons on death row, and known terrorists. Mass murderers and serial killers are free to marry as they please.

Yet, for some reason, a minority of the American people believe it is morally correct to deprive a segment of the population of their basic civil rights. They cite freedom of religion as giving them carte blanche to obstruct the rights of others. What they forget, however, is that the Constitution gives them the right to practice the religion of their own choice, themselves - - not to force others to practice their religion as well.

In fact, same-sex couples choose to marry for the same reasons as opposite-sex couples: for love, stability at home, legal benefits and to start a family. They do so with intentions not any more or less good than those of heterosexuals. They believe they are doing good and should not be held to the ancient moral standards of someone else's god.

There is no official religion in the United States and the government has no business trying to impose religious beliefs on people who do not want them.