Politics: The Marriage Trap

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Politics The Marriage Trap Republicans made gay marriage a wedge issue. Now that it hurts them, they call it "divisive." By William Saletan Posted Tuesday, May 15, 2012, at 01:22 PM ET Eight years ago, the U.S. economy was languishing. We were bogged down in two wars, and the national debt was rising. President Bush was up for reelection, and Republicans needed a wedge issue. They found it in Massachusetts, whose Supreme Judicial Court in 2003 had asserted a statewide right to gay marriage. Seizing the opportunity, Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney ran around the country declaring a national moral crisis. Republicans, urged on by Bush, introduced a constitutional amendment to prohibit gay marriage. On June 18, 2004, Sen. John Cornyn, R-Tex., the subcommittee chairman entrusted with the amendment, joined two colleagues at a press conference to promote it. Cornyn declared gay marriage an economic issue: We know from some of the social experimentation that's occurred in Scandinavia and elsewhere that when same-sex couples can legally marry, that essentially what happens is people quit getting married across the board, and more people raise children outside of marriage at higher risk for a whole host of social ills, placing additional burdens on the government and the taxpayers that support that government. A reporter asked the senators about Democratic complaints that the GOP was "playing divisive election-year politics." Cornyn brushed off the idea. "I don't think it is a particularly divisive issue," he replied. "I think, when the American people get a chance to have their voice heard, that they will overwhelmingly reaffirm their commitment to traditional marriage." Four days later, Cornyn and other members of the Senate Judiciary Committee held a ... To continue reading, click here. Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum What did you think of this article? POST A MESSAGE | READ MESSAGES Also In Slate Teen Moms Aren't Poor Because They Had Babies. They Had Babies Because They're Poor. What Thomas Jefferson's World Sounded Like Wes Anderson Explains Why He's So Obsessed With Childhood	Advertisement
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