Oklahoma Homosexual Marriage Ban Ruled Unconstitutional

Yesterday a federal judge struck down Oklahoma’s ban on homosexual marriage as unconstitutional.  Judge Terrence Kern, appointed by Bill Clinton in 1994, said that “moral disapproval of homosexuals as a class, or same-sex marriage as a practice, is not permissible justification.”  He also noted that protecting the sanctity of marriage wasn’t a valid reason for the ban due to Oklahoma’s high divorce rate and that encouraging procreation was also invalid since opposite-sex couples aren’t required to promise to procreate in order to get married.  I take umbrage with the divorce argument, so often used by supporters of homosexual marriage.  The fact that there are many opposite-sex couples who do not value their marriage enough to not seek a divorce is no reason to further erode the sanctity of marriage.  But, destroying the sanctity of marriage has been on the liberal agenda for years and this is just one more battle to fight. 

Judge Kern also issued a stay preventing his ruling from going into effect while the case makes its way through appeals.  In part of his ruling he appears to me to be opening the door to all kinds of ‘marriage.’

“With respect to marriage licenses, the State has already opened the courthouse doors to opposite-sex couples without any moral, procreative, parenting, or fidelity requirements.  Exclusion of just one class of citizens from receiving a marriage license based upon the perceived ‘threat’ they pose to the marital institution is, at bottom, an arbitrary exclusion based upon the majority’s disapproval of the defined class. It is also insulting to same-sex couples, who are human beings capable of forming loving, committed, enduring relationships.”

Take the above statement and tell me how the same couldn’t be applied to three or more people, cousins, siblings, or even minors.  Ridiculous, you say?  If such people want to have a “loving, committed, enduring relationship” then why shouldn’t they also be allowed to do so?  And don’t forget minors.  The left feels it is just fine for a minor to get an abortion without even having her parents notified, but she’s not allowed to get married?  That may come one day, especially if pedophilia gets mainstreamed the way homosexuality has been.

Aside from the moral reasons why homosexual marriage should not be allowed, there is also the reason that stems from states rights.  Oklahoma State Representative Josh Cockroft summed it up rather succinctly in a Facebook post.

“It is a sad day for our state when one person can undo one million seventy-five thousand two hundred and sixteen peoples wishes on an issue that is clearly defined as a state issue.  The federal ruling on DOMA did not federalize marriage, rather it left the decision to the states.  I and many other Oklahomans believe in marriage being defined between one man and one woman.  It’s right, it’s moral, and it works.  No decision by any government can take that away.”

Readers of my blog know that I have previously predicted that homosexual marriage will one day be legal in all fifty states.  Our country certainly seems to be headed in that direction.  This case will most definitely make its way to the Supreme Court, but how they might rule is anyone’s guess.  With the continued attack by the liberals and the federal government on states rights it would not surprise me in the least if the majority of the Justices rule that the ban is indeed unconstitutional.  Once that happens I predict lawsuits will begin to be filed against churches and ministers who refuse to perform homosexual weddings.  Step by step, destroying morality and any semblance of religious freedom is the left’s agenda.

Lawsuits like this one are classic examples of the importance of the presidency.  Presidents appoint judges and one man in a robe can change society.  But, while one man in a black robe may have the power to declare something legal, he will never have the authority to make it moral.  Immorality and licentiousness have permeated our society, being highly promoted by those on the left and even many on the right.  People do not want to be told their choices or their lifestyles are immoral and the best way for them to combat that is to legalize it, force society to accept it and silence those who dissent.  That is precisely what the battle over homosexual marriage is about.  With every state that declares homosexual marriage legal and with every judge who declares bans unconstitutional, the left achieves a victory that cannot be undone.  There is no going back toward the right; only more left. 

While this may sound like pessimism, I prefer to call it disheartening realism.  I am by no means advocating giving up the battle as one that will be an eventual defeat.  Fight the battle.  Fight for morals.  Make it take as long as possible for homosexual marriage to be the law of the land.  While immorality and evil receive the blessings of the government, that will never be justification for the people to acquiesce and allow the left to go unchallenged and shape society to conform to their depraved views. 

Here in Oklahoma we are fighting the fight.  I believe there’s justification for labeling Oklahoma as the reddest of the red states and the fight for morality is one of those reasons, homosexual marriage being just one of the moral issues about which the left in Oklahoma wails.  The left continually mocks Oklahoma as a ‘backwards’ state, but to my mind, that just proves how different from them most Oklahomans are.  I welcome their mockery.  When the mockery ends is when Oklahoma has stopped fighting. 

When the court case about homosexual marriage reaches its conclusion at the Supreme Court, Oklahoma may well be forced by five or more Justices to grant homosexuals a marriage license.  Should they achieve a victory, the left (and some on the right) should not confuse a marriage license with the approval I believe they seek.  Here in Oklahoma, that marriage license will be on orders from a judge, but over one million Oklahomans have made it clear the immorality that is homosexual marriage is unacceptable.