Death Threats for not supporting Gay Marriage
Image via WikipediaWith Senate hearings on the repeal of DOMA yesterday, President Obama and the hard-left core of the Democratic Party in Washington declared war on marriage, on federalism, on democracy and on religious liberty.
As Maggie said in National Review yesterday, the chilling of our First Amendment rights has commenced, in the name of a faux equality:
The First Amendment is more than a legal guarantee. It is a key American value—which holds that in a free society, decent, law-abiding citizens should not be afraid to speak up with civility for the moral good as they see it.
Sen. Chuck Grassley's remarkable opening statement in Wednesday's Senate DOMA hearing on a bill to repeal DOMA called attention to a very serious and growing intolerance directed at Americans who believe marriage is the union of husband and wife:
"The minority very much hoped to call a witness today at this hearing to testify in support of DOMA. I am sure she would have done an excellent job," said Sen. Grassley (R-Iowa). "She declined, however, citing as one reason the threats and intimidation that have been leveled against not only her but her family as a result of her public support for DOMA. She will continue to write on this subject, but will no longer speak publicly about it. This chilling of First Amendment rights is unacceptable."
The death threats and hateful mail New York state senator Rev. Rubén Díaz says he has received are not unusual, as anyone who speaks with civility and common sense for our marriage tradition discovers. Marriage as the union of husband and wife is not bigotry, it's common sense.
Nevertheless, whole professions are in the process of being closed to anyone who espouses—and acts on—the view that marriage is the union of husband and wife.
We told you last week about a Toronto sportscaster who was fired for tweeting that he believes in the "true and authentic meaning of marriage." Nothing in the First Amendment will prevent similar injustices in this country if the government adopts the view that our traditional understanding of marriage is like racial bigotry, and needs to be suppressed in the name of "equality."
Next week, NOM is flying to North Carolina to interview Frank Turek, who also had his contract with CISCO terminated, after a human resources official googled and found out he had written against same-sex marriage.
Take a moment and look into the eyes of Ruth Sheldon, a 65-year-old town clerk in the little town of Granby, New York, who resigned a job with a $32,000 a year salary plus health insurance, because New York politicians have threatened to criminally prosecute any clerk who cannot, in good conscience, sign a gay wedding license. "I'm standing on the word of God," she says. Indeed she is, with honor.
Look into the eyes of this decent, hardworking, conscientious woman, who lost her job and was threatened with criminal prosecution if she didn't license gay weddings, and ask yourself: What kind of a political movement wants to deprive a woman like this of her job and the town of Granby of her skills? What kind of government would put her in jail?
