Republicans Sign Brief in Support of Gay Marriage

WASHINGTON — Dozens of prominent Republicans — including top advisers to former President George W. Bush, four former governors and two members of Congress — have signed a legal brief arguing that gay people have a constitutional right to marry, a position that amounts to a direct challenge to Speaker John A. Boehner and reflects the civil war in the party since the November election.

Jon M. Huntsman Jr., who opposed same-sex marriage
 during his 2012 presidential bid, signed the brief.

Meg Whitman supported Proposition 8
when she ran for California governor.

The document will be submitted this week to the Supreme Court in support of a suit seeking to strike downProposition 8, a California ballot initiative barring same-sex marriage, and all similar bans. The court will hear back-to-back arguments next month in that case and another pivotal gay rights case that challenges the 1996 federal Defense of Marriage Act.”

The Proposition 8 case already has a powerful conservative supporter: Theodore B. Olson, the former solicitor general under Mr. Bush and one of the suit’s two lead lawyers. The amicus, or friend-of-the-court, brief is being filed with Mr. Olson’s blessing. It argues, as he does, that same-sex marriage promotes family values by allowing children of gay couples to grow up in two-parent homes, and that it advances conservative values of “limited government and maximizing individual freedom.”

Legal analysts said the brief had the potential to sway conservative justices as much for the prominent names attached to it as for its legal arguments. The list of signers includes a string of Republican officials and influential thinkers — 75 as of Monday evening — who are not ordinarily associated with gay rights advocacy, including some who are speaking out for the first time and others who have changed their previous positions.

Among them are Meg Whitman, who supported Proposition 8 when she ran for California governor; Representatives Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida and Richard Hanna of New York; Stephen J. Hadley, a Bush national security adviser; Carlos Gutierrez, a commerce secretary to Mr. Bush; James B. Comey, a top Bush Justice Department official; David A. Stockman, President Ronald Reagan’s first budget director; and Deborah Pryce, a former member of the House Republican leadership from Ohio who is retired from Congress.

Experts say that amicus briefs generally do not change Supreme Court justices’ minds. But on Monday some said that the Republican brief, written by Seth P. Waxman, a former solicitor general in the administration of President Bill Clinton, and Reginald Brown, who served in the Bush White House Counsel’s Office, might be an exception..

-New York Times, February 25th 2013

Related articles

• 75+ Prominent Republicans Sign Brief Urging Supreme Court to Strike Down Proposition 8 (towleroad.com)
• HP CEO Meg Whitman Changes Opposition Stance to Same-Sex Marriage (allthingsd.com)
• Obama May Bolster Gay-Marriage Bid in California Case - Bloomberg (bloomberg.com)
• All-out assault on Proposition 8 (scotusblog.com)
• DOMA: U.S. takes tough line on marriage denial (scotusblog.com)
• Supreme Court is urged to allow gay marriage nationwide (latimes.com)

<p style="text-align: justify;">When British PM David Cameron threw his weight behind the proposal for British recognition for gay marriage last year, he said it was because he was a Conservative, not in spite of it. Mr Cameron, like many modern politicians, is not noted for strong religious observance or belief - but Time Montgomerie is different. He is both a prominent Conservative MP, <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;"> </span><span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">the editor of the ConservativeHome website for Tory activists, </span>and an outspoken Christian. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;"> (I</span><span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">n 1990 he founded the influential Conservative Christian Fellowship (CCF) with David Burrowes, a Tory MP who now leads the campaign against gay marriage). But in announcing his support for gay marriage, he has used arguments remarkably similar to those of Mr Cameron. Expanding the concept of marriage to include all couples, he says, will not weaken the institution, as the opponents fear, but will strengthen it.</span><span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;"> </span></p>
 <a href="http://queeringthechurch.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Tim+Montgomerie2.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-21859" title="Tim+Montgomerie2" src="http://queeringthechurch.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Tim+Montgomerie2-e1328528834937-300x239.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="239" /></a>
<blockquote>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><em><span style="color: #000080;">Mr Montgomerie said: "Conservatives should want as many people as possible to live in institutions and social norms that promote stability, faithfulness and compassion. Marriage is an institution at the centre of society. It is because I value it so much that I want it to be extended. This is not about equal rights. It is about extending an incredibly important social institution." Admitting the Tories previously had a "terrible" record on gay rights, he said: "To put it kindly, it has dragged its feet for a long time." He pointed out that Mr Cameron had consistently favoured gay rights since becoming party leader.</span></em></p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><em><span style="color: #000080;">What David Cameron is embarked upon is an incredibly important project – to make social conservatism fashionable again. Marriage is civilising, stabilising, a hugely important institution for bringing people together. But if marriage is fossilised and exclusive, that has only limited reach. His attempt to enlarge and modernise the institution should not be seen as a threat to marriage but as its saviour."</span></em></p>
<p style="text-align: right;">-<a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/prominent-tory-disowns-religious-right-and-supports-gay-marriage-6579531.html"> The Independent</a>.</p>
</blockquote>
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A conservative case for gay marriage (Again).

This is not the first time that a conservative case has been made for gay marriage, but every new presentation of the argument is worth noting. I particularly like this post's use of impeccable conservative credentials - Barry Goldwater - and the standard argument of the opponents turned against them: the interests of the children.

The lack of support for legalizing gay marriage amongst conservatives is surprising because the push to legalize gay marriage serves conservative aims.

The conservative case for gay marriage begins with Barry Goldwater’s landmark book, The Conscience of a Conservative—the manifesto that forms the intellectual foundation of modern American conservatism. As Goldwater put it, “the Conservative looks upon politics as the art of achieving the maximum amount of freedom for individuals that is consistent with the maintenance of the social order.” Legalizing gay marriage would do just that.

The argument that legalizing gay marriage would increase individual freedom is pretty straightforward: government regulation of who can and who cannot marry limits individuals’ control over their own lives, and thus decreases individual freedom. Therefore, the government should turn a blind eye to individuals’ sexual orientations, and extend the right to marry to the estimated 15 million gay Americans.

But for gay marriage to increase individual freedom isn’t enough, given Goldwater’s definition of conservatism. For legalizing gay marriage to qualify as a conservative political act, it must also “be consistent with the maintenance of the social order.”

Gay marriage does this too. For one, marriage benefits society by creating a safe, stable, and healthy environment for parents to raise children. Study after study has shown that children raised in wedlock are healthier, happier, and ultimately more productive members of society than children raised out of wedlock. And according to a study conducted by University of California, Davis professor Gregory Herek, this is as true for families in which both parents are members of the same sex as it is for traditional families.

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2010/07/13/a-conservative-case-for-gay-marriage/#ixzz0tajbFzrE