Traditionally, the Thanksgiving weekend is a time for Canadian families to gather, and pretend to get along around the dinner table in a fog of passive-aggressive awkwardness, until some relative gets drunk and accidentally says something they really mean. Too bad for our American neighbour, who will have to wait a few more weeks to partake in this celebration of the nuclear family. But worry not, because the president of the United States thoughtfully provided a new holiday this October in which Americans may gather to celebrate their own family values while we Canadians dine on turkey: Marriage Protection Week.
Created by executive proclamation earlier this month, the week of October 12th-18th was intended to remind Americans and foreign observers that “Marriage is a union between a man and a women” and “it’s protection is essential to the continued strength of our society.” If that latter statement seems to beg the question “protect from what?’ surely the former answers it-“protect it from couples that are not made of a man and a women.” Why would the president go out of his way to make a purely symbolic gesture such as this? And why now? To answer these questions, some background must be considered:
By any account, this has been a remarkable summer for gay and lesbian rights. The first instance of legal same-sex marriage in North America occurred in Ontario this last June-a historic first. That same month, the United States Supreme Court overturned a lower court ruling in Lawrence v. Texas, and in the process ruled all state “sodomy” laws unconstitutional. Thus Americans, gay and straight, can now engage in all sorts of non-reproductive sex that would previously make them criminals in many states. Try to restrain yourselves folks. And drink plenty of water.
Since the Lawrence ruling, there has been nationwide debate on all the issues of legal discrimination that still exist in the U.S., from the military ban on openly gay service members to the possibility of same-sex marriage itself. Thus, we see what the president was reacting to when he established an official Marriage Protection Week in October. The timing of this proclamation speaks to its purpose: it is a symbolic reminder of the president’s continued commitment to perpetuating inequality for gays after a summer of unprecedented civil rights victories from Toronto to Texas.
The real threat here is how, exactly, the president intends to “protect” marriage. One likely step is a constitutional amendment, which would permanently remove from states their traditional right to define marriage and reserve it for the federal government. This so-called Federal Marriage Amendment would not only mean permanent second-class status for gays and lesbians, but a gross abridgment of states’ rights and the principals of federalism. Even for conservatives opposed to same-sex marriage, this solution is worse than the problem.
When running for president in 2000, George W. Bush styled himself as a “compassionate conservative,” but in moving to expand the power of government to restrict and exclude certain Americans from full social participation, he demonstrates neither compassion nor conservatism. Instead, he has borrowed the pen that freed the slaves to sign a grand proclamation consecrating his bigotry, and calling on Americans like myself to observe it “with appropriate programs, ceremonies and activities.”
I can think of a few appropriate activities to mark this week past, and thanks to the Supreme Court, I can even do them in Texas.
