Marriage by the Feds

     I am a big fan of the Constitution, especially the Bill of Rights, and especially the last-but-not-least 10th Amendment. This amendment says that anything that is not specifically mentioned in the Constitution or its amendments, nor prohibited by it, is left up to "the States, or to the People." This means that each state will decide for itself those matters not covered by the Constitution, or we can have a national public vote to decide.

     This amendment was important at the time of (leading up to) the Civil War, because it was not specified that slavery was federally outlawed, so it was up to the States.

As with many laws and amendments, there are times when it doesn't fully make sense to do it a particular way, so another way needs to be figured out. So as to disallow any given state from putting a law into effect limiting the life, liberty, or pursuit of happiness of any US citizen (including the slaves freed when the 13th Amendment was ratified and adopted), they made the 14th Amendment. This one goes on to state that all US citizens shall be afforded the same rights in the eyes of legal matters.

     One of the many matters that is not covered specifically in the US Constitution is the matter of legal matrimony. Since it is not mentioned, this matter is left up to the States individually. But many federal and state government documents, procedures, and other matters such as taxes, in some part rely on an individual's matrimony status. This elevates the (traditionally religious) matter of marriage to a legal matter, much like many contracts that are executed in business dealings, child adoptions, automobile registration, etc.

     For many people this is an emotional issue, but for the government, it is not. They (The Supreme Court, for instance) have to look at the laws and compare them with the wording and (their interpretation of) the intent of the Constitution. It needs to be as un-emotional as possible when they are looking at it. Laws should not be made or changed based on emotion. And, according to the 1st Amendment, laws shall not be made "respecting [regarding] an establishment of religion [any religion], nor preventing the free exercise thereof [any religion]."

     So they looked at the facts. The facts are these:

• Marriage is not specified in the Constitution, so it is generally a matter left to the States. 
• Many states have decided to include all human beings, not just heterosexual humans, in being able to enter legal matrimony with the person of their choosing, regardless of gender.
• Some states have decided not to include homosexual citizens in this ... this... um ... let's say.... this particular pursuit of happiness.

     Similar to several states not giving equal rights to people of color back in the day because it was a state issue, the federal government has decided to step in and force the states to include all citizens in this matter.

     As a person whose political views lean toward libertarianism, I say great!

     As a person whose spiritual beliefs lean toward Jesus Christ, I say great! Jesus taught us to welcome all into the fold and love your fellow human as you would love yourself. He taught us not to judge someone based on what we think their sins are.