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| Dale Carpenter (left), a gay Republican who filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the Lawrence vs. Texas sodomy case, was selected by Democrats to testify at a congressional subcommittee on same-sex marriage called by Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas). |
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HOME > NEWS > NATIONAL NEWS
By: LOU CHIBBARO JR. COMMENTS
 
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state
sodomy laws on grounds of privacy rights could lead to the overturning of state
marriage laws that currently ban gay marriage.
Cornyn and other opponents of gay marriage note that state courts in Massachusetts,
New Jersey and Arizona are currently considering litigation seeking to overturn
laws banning gay marriage. Lawsuits brought by gay couples in the three states
are generally based on rights guaranteed by the respective constitutions of
those states, on which the state supreme courts have the final word.
But conservatives have responded to the dissent filed in the Lawrence decision
by conservative Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who argued that the ruling
in that case would undermine marriage laws that exclude same-sex couples based
on the moral values of the majority of citizens.
“I believe we must do whatever it takes to safeguard the institution
of marriage and ensure that the principles defined in DOMA remain the law of
the land,” Cornyn said in a statement this week.
“This hearing will remind people why traditional marriage is so important
for a healthy society, and will determine the extent of the threat posed to
DOMA by judiciary activism in light of recent court decisions and pending cases,” Cornyn
said.
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| Conservative syndicated columnist trong>Maggie Gallagher is one of the witnesses
picked by Republicans to testify on protecting the Defense of Marriage
Act. Gallagher wrote in a column that it would be better for the nation
to legalize polygamy than it would to legalize gay marriage. |
Capitol Hill observers initially expected Cornyn’s hearing to center
around highly technical constitutional issues and legal interpretations of
whether DOMA could withstand a legal challenge. But only one of the four witnesses
that Cornyn and his fellow Republicans on the subcommittee invited to testify
this week appears qualified to touch on such legal questions.
Attorney Gregory S. Coleman, the former solicitor general of Texas, was expected
to offer his legal analysis of DOMA at the Sept. 4 hearing. Coleman, currently
in private practice, has argued cases before the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf
of conservative causes.
The other three witnesses that Cornyn invited were expected to provide philosophical
and political arguments against same-
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