Court ruling arrived quicker than expected
Published October 14, 2014
Editorial by Burlington Times-News, October 13, 2014.
As the Alamance County Register of Deeds office prepares to receive new paperwork from the state to accommodate the newly minted licensing of same-sex marriages — the choice of Applicant 1 and Applicant 2 beckons — it’s easy to forget just how vast this change is. Certainly Register of Deeds Hugh Webster didn’t see this day coming 10 years ago. Even five years back, most in North Carolina would not have believed such a thing might be possible so soon.
And state House Speaker Thom Tillis, who is now a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, didn’t forecast it correctly shortly before state voters passed Amendment 1 in 2012, an amendment to the state constitution that stated that marriage in North Carolina could only legally occur between a man and a woman. Back then, Tillis predicted that no matter how state voters cast ballots, the matter would be ultimately determined by a court, where it would eventually lose.
He predicted the law would last a generation, or about 20 years. Today’s children would be the ones to make the change, Tillis predicted.
Instead, it happened much more quickly. A federal judge in Asheville on Friday officially overturned North Carolina’s ban on same-sex marriages less than five days after the U.S. Supreme Court denied appeals by five states whose bans on same-sex marriage were overturned in federal appeals courts. Those decisions appear to affect similar bans in other states within the courts’ jurisdiction — hence the demise of North Carolina’s marriage amendment. When the latest dominoes fall, there will soon be at least 32 states allowing same-sex couples to marry.
As soon as the judge’s ruling was announced, a couple wed in Greensboro as the Guilford County Register of Deeds opened the office longer for the purpose of issuing licenses. In Alamance, Mecklenburg and other counties, couples waited until Monday morning. The first Mecklenburg same-sex marriage was performed before 10 a.m., according to The Charlotte Observer.
In Alamance County, Webster and his office issued its first license Monday afternoon to a same-sex couple who then wed at the Magistrates Office. Webster didn’t anticipate an immediate rush and didn’t get one. He figured that things would be business as usual in Graham.
That’s really as it should be: Business as usual. Yes, there will be novelty for the first few weeks, perhaps months. But over time the hullabaloo should subside. The court decisions will only require states to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples and allow civil marriage ceremonies. That’s a right granted in our society that should be legally available to all. For the government, it’s a civil rights issue, not one of morality. As a legal matter, it also helps settle dilemmas like child custody, inheritance and health care decision rights for same-sex couples.
Importantly, the law does not require churches to perform those marriages should they choose not to. That is also correct. Churches should be free to conduct ceremonies as they wish. Anything else would be an unconstitutional government intrusion.
The matter will remain in the news while state Republican leaders file their own objections to the court’s decision. They cite the fact that North Carolina’s marriage amendment was endorsed by about 60 percent of the voters in the 2012 election. But that vote cannot stand if courts rule that it violates the U.S. Constitution.
The courts are generally reflecting the same change in opinion that pollsters are finding among many Americans. State GOP leaders should see the same thing.
October 14, 2014 at 7:13 pm
Norm Kelly says:
I will leave the question of whether gay marriage should be legal or not to another discussion. But this post does bring 2 questions/concerns to my mind.
First, the new ruling results in '32 states' where gay marriage will be legal. Why only 32? Are we NOT the UNITED States? When a law is considered Constitutional at the FEDERAL level does this NOT mean that it applies to all the states in the UNITED States? What happened to the other 20 states (credit to the occupier for this math!)? Why would a federal court decision NOT affect all of the states? If it's possible that some 20 states WON'T be affected by this federal judicial screw up, why does it mean that it MUST apply to NC? Why couldn't it be that some federal judge agrees that NC can be part of that 20 where gay marriage is not forced upon us?
Second, the author writes 'Importantly, the law does not require churches to perform those marriages should they choose not to. . . . Churches should be free to conduct ceremonies as they wish'. How long do you expect this to hold true? What makes ANYONE with the ability to think (leaves out the average lib and every lib pol!) believe that the gay minority will let this stand? At what point have they shown ANY restraint in their demands for the majority to conform to their 'lifestyle'? When ANYONE has chosen NOT to participate in what some consider bizarre behavior, the gay community has used the courts to force their chose on everyone else. Including forcing this decision on states that didn't want it! So what makes YOU think they will leave the churches alone? At what point has this administration cared about violating the US Constitution? And the current occupier has repeatedly shown that he does NOT believe the US Constitution protects all religions, and certainly not the Christian religion. So why would this administration stop forcing churches and religious organizations to capitulate now?
Talk about living in a dream world. Tillis may have THOUGHT that the state ban would survive about 20 years and been wrong. But no thinking person should expect churches and religious organizations from being exempt from participating in gay marriage. Eventually, before the 20 year mark, the central planners will find a way to claim that every church MUST participate or face loss of their tax-exempt status. Or some other such nonsense that might involve the IRS. If, God forbid, the US Senate stays in the hands of the Socialist Party of the US, this occupier won't wait for any time to lapse before 'encouraging' the IRS to intimidate churches and religious organizations to force them to change their stance. The occupier will do everything he can to make it look like churches capitulated on their own, that there was no IRS intimidation involved, but just like current scandals this one will leak out also.
I have zero faith in the gay zealots that they will accept churches NOT participating. I have zero faith that the current occupier will accept status quo.
