During the recently ended Maryland legislative session, one of the most rancorous issues was a Republican-sponsored bill to write discrimination against gays and lesbians into the Maryland Constitution by banning same-sex civil marriage. It failed.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., has promised a similar debate on the so-called “Marriage Protection Act” during June in the U.S. Congress. I?m perplexed by the Republican Party?s vehement opposition to marriage equality for gays. In the interest of full disclosure, I?m a Democrat, have been married for more than 20 years and am the father of two children; one happens to be gay.
The Republican Party, the party of Lincoln, should be proud of its legacy as the party that stood tall for equality and minority rights when our country was divided by the issue of slavery. The Republican Party in recent decades has successfully built itself upon principles of fiscal responsibility, free enterprise, individual responsibility and smaller government. I believe these principles of the Republican Party are consistent with marriage equality for gays.
Republican Congressman Steve Chabot of Ohio asked the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office to estimate the fiscal impact of marriage equality for gays. The CBO estimated a nearly $1 billion dollar positive impact in each of the next 10 years to the federal budget. The business magazine Forbes estimated a $16.8 billion annual boost to the private sector. Marriage equality is fiscally positive.
Some people unfairly stereotype gays and lesbians as promiscuous. When gays and lesbians step forward and say they want to settle down and commit to a monogamous, married relationship with all of its responsibilities, they are denied the opportunity. In our local PFLAG (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) chapter alone, I know more than a dozen gay and lesbian couples who have been together for 10, 20 years or more. Marriage demands personal responsibility. Not allowing gays and lesbians to wed is inconsistent with the promotion of individual responsibility.
The GOP?s major opposition to marriage equality comes from a religious perspective held by some social conservatives within the party. Some individuals espouse a personal religious belief that homosexuality is wrong and therefore same-sex marriage is also wrong. All Americans are entitled to their individual religious beliefs. However, the First Amendment that guarantees this individual religious freedom also demands that no religion?s perspective or viewpoint establish itself as the state?s position. It is because of our Constitution?s “establishment clause” that religion cannot be the sole basis of our laws. If we base marriage law on a groups? religious viewpoint, we trample on somebody else?s religious freedom. For example, the United Church of Christ and the Unitarian Universalists believe in allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry but the Catholic Church and Islam do not. Whose religious viewpoint is more important? Should the government decide? By basing our civil laws on any particular religion?s doctrine, we trash our precious Bill of Rights, jeopardize our personal freedoms and dangerously increase the reach of government.
Gays and lesbians want to join the ranks of the married; they want to grow the institution of marriage, not diminish it. They believe marriage, commitment, monogamy and families are good for America.
Republicans who adhere to Republican principles should support them.
Dan McCarthy, Ph.D. is a psychologist and health care executive from Columbia, Md. He serves on the Steering Committee of PFLAG (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) of Columbia/Howard County and is also the co-chair of its Political Advocacy Committee.
