Religion & American Law

            The article is about a federal appeals court that agreed with a lower court’s ruling on Tuesday about Proposition 8. The lower level court had ruled that even though Proposition 8 has passed by 52% to 48% it is in violation of the constitutional right for same-sex couples. Judge Walker, who ruled in the lower court, said that denying a same sex marriage is in violation of the Equal Protection and the Due Process clauses in the Constitution. The judges that ruled on Tuesday stated that they were not going to rule whether it was a constitutional right for a same-sex couple to marry; instead the ruling was about how Proposition 8 violated the Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause. Mitt Romney stated the decision was an attack on traditional marriage and said that the Supreme Court would eventually to decide on the issue. Chad Griffin of the American Foundation for Equal Rights, made a statement where he explained that same-sex marriage has increased steadily from a decade ago, if it does come to vote again the outcomes may be different.

            This issue is important because Proposition 8 in violation of Due Process and California is in violation of Equal protection. The 14^th amendment is about Due Process; a court cannot rule without everyone being present. The reason why Proposition 8 is in violation on Due Process is because not every same-sex couple in America’s rights were heard. When Proposition 8 was being voting on only the same-sex couples in California’s were allowed to vote. What about all the same-sex couples in other states, Proposition 8 directly affects them as well. This comes to the second issue of California being in violation of Equal Protection. Equal Protection means every state must have equal protection of a citizen’s rights. Since New York legalized gay marriage, if a same-sex couple moves from New York to California their marriage is no longer recognized. Judge Reinhardt ruled on Tuesday, “All that Proposition 8 accomplished was to take away from same-sex couples the right to be granted a marriage license.” Since California does not grant marriage licenses to same-sex couples any couple moving from New York to California are now seen as being single.

            Same-sex marriage has become a major issue in the past few decades. Religious people claim same-sex marriages are wrong, and that they ruin the sanctity of marriage. For Mitt Romney, who is a presidential candidate, to claim that the decision the judge made was an attack traditional marriage shows that his religion is seeping into political issues. If America is supposed to be a nation with the separation of church and state then Romney should not have made the statement he did. The argument made about gay marriage is always tied into religion, but what about atheist. Should atheist be denied the chance to marry someone of the same sex just because religious people believed same-sex marriages are wrong?