It seems that what’s now known as “traditional marriage” can’t get a break these days.
At the same time Maryland is on the verge of legalizing same-sex marriage (see this story about how some local Catholics feel about that), the Obama administration announced today that it has instructed the Department of Justice to stop defending the Defense of Marriage Act. The law, which reiterates that marriage is between a man and a woman, was passed 15 years ago by a Republican Congress and signed by President Bill Clinton, a Democrat.
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops isn’t pleased with President Obama’s stance. Here’s part of a just-released statement from the bishops’ Office of General Counsel:
The principal basis for today’s decision is that the President considers the law a form of impermissible sexual orientation discrimination.
This decision represents an abdication of the responsibility of the Executive Branch to carry out its constitutional obligation to ensure that the laws of the United States are faithfully executed. It is also a grave affront to the millions of Americans who both reject unjust discrimination and affirm the unique and inestimable value of marriage as between one man and one woman. Support for actual marriage is not bigotry, but instead an eminently reasonable, common judgment affirming the foundational institution of civil society. Any suggestion by the government that such a judgment represents “discrimination” is a serious threat to the religious liberty of marriage supporters nationwide.