EDITORIAL: Marriage Equality in Michigan
ROMAN SENATOR CATO The Elder, who lived in the 2nd century BCE, had a “mantra.” At the end of each speech delivered in the Senate Cato would declaim: “Carthago delenda est,” or “Carthage must be destroyed.” Ignoring a peace treaty, Rome attacked Carthage and destroyed the city. Legend holds that the Romans spread salt amid the ruins.
Democrat Mark Schauer, who is challenging Governor Rick Snyder, has a mantra: “As Governor discrimination will have no place in my administration.” Representative Schauer is using marriage equality to campaign against the incumbent. It is a strategy aimed at the 30 percent of Michigan voters who are independents. A large percentage of those voters were fooled into believing that candidate Rick Snyder was a nerd rather than a conservative ideologue thanks to slick, Hollywood-devised advertisements.
Ann Arbor Democrats, including one City Council member, donated to Snyder in 2010. Democratic state representative Gretchen Driskell, then Democratic Mayor of Saline, donated to Rick Snyder’s campaign, as well. Democrat Virg Bernero won our county by 1.5 percentage points—1,800 votes out of the 123,672 cast. Conversely in Detroit, Rick Snyder captured 5.3 percent of the 175,400 votes cast. At Governor Snyder’s first State of the State address, State Senator Rebekah Warren ceremoniously led him to the podium in the Senate chambers. A few weeks later, Snyder signed legislation that stripped gay and lesbian workers employed by the State of their health care coverage.
In 2012, Michigan independents’ gave a cold reception to the president’s marriage equality stance. A 2012 poll by Lambert, Edwards & Associates and Denno Research of 600 independent voters found that 17 percent of independents were supportive of President Obama’s marriage equality position, and 41 percent were less likely to vote for him because of the issue. This is a sad reality for Michigan’s gay residents.
Regardless, with its United States vs. Windsor decision, the U.S. Supreme Court has began the destruction of Carthage. In a dissenting opinion in the Windsor case, Justice Scalia posited that the “court’s logic would soon lead to the invalidation of state laws banning same-sex marriage.” Six justices decided that the definition of marriage can’t be legally defined, for the purpose of interpreting federal law, as only between a man and woman. Recent court decisions in Utah and Ohio mean that Court will take up the question of the legality of state laws, such as Michigan’s, that refuse to recognize marriage equality.
While our current U.S. Supreme Court members have said they are sensitive to inciting “backlash” when taking up socially divisive issues such as marriage equality, it’s unlikely any member of Michigan’s U.S. Congressional delegation would have the temerity—or the political support—to dredge up Massive Resistance. This was a policy formulated by former Virginia U.S. Senator Harry F. Byrd, Sr. in response to the Supreme Court’s 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education decision. Brown dealt a crippling blow to school segregation by overturning the 1896 Plessy vs. Ferguson decision under the auspices of which the legal doctrine of “separate but equal” was created.
Would Michigan’s elected county clerks close their offices rather than issue marriage licenses to gay applicants, as schools in Virginia closed their doors rather than admit black students? We don’t believe the state’s county clerks would grind to a halt vital record keeping and elections in protest. Michigan voters were wrong to ban marriage equality in 2004. However, it’s 2014 not 1955. Michigan’s governor won’t defend bigotry by declaring: “heterosexual marriage now, heterosexual marriage tomorrow, heterosexual marriage forever.” When the Supreme Court invalidates Michigan’s ban on same-sex marriage—which Justice Scalia suggests the court will soon do—there will be “backlash” from conservatives such as Dave Agema. However, let’s not forget conservatives such as state representative Republican Justin Amash who Tweeted in 2012: “Real threat to traditional marriage & religious liberty is government, not gay couples who love each other & want to spend lives together.” Even if Mark Schauer loses to Governor Snyder in 2014, marriage equality will come to Michigan. Perhaps then, voters will realize that the marriage equality “debate” has been used for over a decade to distract them from the serious political and economic problems that plague our state.