Approving same-sex marriage June 26, the Supreme Court voted 5 to 4 to make gay marriage the law of the land. Today’s Associated Press-GK poll indicates that the nation remains split about opinions related to the SCOTUS decision, 47% favor the decision, 49% oppose. Whatever personal feelings about High Court’s ruling Atty. Gen. Loretta Lynch must coordinate with the White House to get the word out of one’s duty under the U.S. Constitution. States raising objections now, giving employees “of conscience” the right to refuse to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, must be put on notice that they’ll be prosecuted to the fullest extent of law. Recent “religious liberty” bills passed in Indiana and Arkansas before the Supreme Court ruling gave local, county and state employees the impression they could discriminate on gays or lesbians based on religious views.
President Barack Obama and Lynch must do more to educate the public as to their Constitutional duties with regard to the Supreme Court’s ruling. Fifty-Six percent of AP-GK respondents said they believe protection of their religious liberties takes precedence over the government’s right to impose same sex marriage. White House officials can’t let religious-conservatives to establish a shadow government, applying their church’s values at the expense of the Constitution. Nothing in the Supreme Court ruling forced religious institutions to marry same sex couples, threatening their IRS, tax-exempt, nonprofit status. Bible belt states, especially in the South, don’t follow the Constitution’s separation clause, keeping churches out of the public square. When a city, county, state or federal employee refuses to issue same-sex wedding licenses, it breaches federal law, requiring strict enforcement.
Telling employees working in local, county, state or federal offices that the state won’t prosecute employees for exercising “religious freedom,” completely misreads the meaning of the First Amendment’s guarantee of religious freedom. Practicing religious freedom is protected inside the religious institution, not imposing personal religious beliefs on fellow citizens. Religious freedom laws, especially the recent ones in Indiana and Arkansas, don’t give citizens a right to discriminate against citizens with different religious views or sexual orientations. When the Supreme ruled June 26 backing same-sex marriage, it was due to a sizable body of court rulings equating sex-orientation with established civil rights laws. Lawmakers in Indiana and Arkansas ignored changes in case law that no longer discriminates between civil rights laws related to race and that of sex orientation.
According the AP-GK poll regarding same-sex marriage, 65% of Democrats but only 22% of Republicans favor the Supreme Court ruling, presenting real problems for the GOP heading into the 2016 election. Listening to Fox News and other GOP media outlets, it’s easy to see how “religious freedom” is given preference over federal law. Conservatives, including the one’s backing flying the Confederate Flag, back states rights over federal court rulings. Social and religious conservatives denounced the Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage as egregious judicial activism or rule by fiat. Those same conservative only reluctantly accept old Supreme Court rulings like Brown v. Board of Education, forcing schools across the land to integrate. Numerous courts over 10 years since the Massachusetts High Court passed same-sex marriage May 17, 2014, cited Brown v. Board of Education.
Brown v. Board of education settled for posterity the idea that you can create “separate but equal” schools for blacks. Massachusetts High Court ruled May 17, 2014 that under Brown v. Board of Education “domestic partnerships” and “civil unions” violated gay and lesbian couples 14th Amendment rights of “equal protection” and “due process” under the law. Five Supreme Court justices in Burwell v. King concluded that banning same-sex marriage violated gays and lesbians 14th Amendment rights. Religious freedom laws don’t give citizens a right to violate any Constitutional Amendment, including denying same-sex couples wedding cakes, flowers or balloons. “I don’t believe it’s going to go over smoothly,” said Clarence Wells, 60. “I think a lot of them will be shunned in church . . . “ showing how he’s confused between what goes on in church and the public square.
Obama and Lynch must do more to educate the public and the states about their responsibilities to same-sex couples under federal law, now that the Supreme Court settled the issue of same-sex marriage. If states resist implementation, Lynch must file suits in federal court forcing compliance and enforcing the Supreme Court’s ruling. No city, county, state or federal employee should be allowed to discriminate against any citizens because of religious convictions. Local, state and federal laws must make clear to employees, regardless of religious convictions, that in the course of their work duties, they have no right to discriminate against same-sex couples. If employees refuse to perform duties under local, state or federal law, they must be disciplined appropriately, including relieved of duties. No one’s religious conviction should violate the Constitution in the workplace.
