EDITORIAL: In Fighting Same-Sex Marriage, Mich. Gov.’s Actions Evoke George Wallace

ON OCT. 6, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to get involved in the national debate over same-sex marriage. The Court’s refusal to hear appeals, left intact lower court rulings that will legalize the practice in 11 additional states. The decision by the justices was unexpected and announced without further explanation. The Court’s actions immediately impact five states in which federal appeals courts had struck down bans against gay marriage: Virginia, Indiana, Wisconsin, Oklahoma and Utah.

It also impacts six other states located in the judicial circuits overseen by those respective appellate courts: North Carolina, South Carolina, West Virginia, Colorado, Kansas and Wyoming. Lower court judges in those states must abide by their appeals court rulings. The action eventually will bring to 30 the number of states where gays and lesbians can marry. Appeals courts in Cincinnati and San Francisco are considering cases that could expand that number further, presuming the Supreme Court remains outside the legal fray.

Michigan’s governor is fighting a recent decision by a federal judge which struck down the state’s ban on same-sex marriage. Attorney General Bill Schuette has repeatedly said that the U.S. Supreme Court will have the final word. However, the Supreme Court’s recent refusal to hear appeals similar to Schuette’s on behalf of “traditional marriage” should make it clear that Michigan’s Republican governor and AG are wasting time and the people’s money.

Gov. Snyder, who wants our state to be “the comeback kid,” must realize that fighting gay marriage in the face of its legalization in 30 states, including the Carolinas and West Virginia, make him appear as socially and politically backward as Gov. George Wallace. Wallace, who famously fought integration, delivered a 1963 inauguration speech which promised Alabama voters “segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever.” The speech came seven years after the U.S. Supreme Court had issued its landmark Brown vs. Board of Education ruling.

We believe for Michigan to come back from the economic edge of night, our state must have intellectually agile leaders. We don’t expect our Republican governor, who signed a bill stripping the children of same-sex state employees of their health care, to be convinced by the arguments of progressives. However, we find it  disappointing Gov. Snyder isn’t convinced by the arguments and actions of Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., a fellow conservative.