Special Report: Same-Sex Marriage On June 26, 2015, the United States Supreme Court held, in a 5-4 decision, that the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution requires all 50 states to license a marriage between two people of the same sex and to recognize a marriage between two people of the same sex when their marriage was lawfully licensed and performed in a different state.
The Case
This Supreme Court case actually involved suits from four different states: Michigan (DeBoer v. Snyder, Governor of Michigan), Kentucky (Bourke v. Beshear, Governor of Kentucky), Ohio (Obergefell v. Hodges, Director, Ohio Department of Health) and Tennessee (Tanco v. Haslam, Governor of Tennessee). However, Obergefell v. Hodges is the one that identifies the Supreme Court case.
In total, 14 same-sex couples and two men, whose same-sex partners were deceased, filed suits in Federal District Courts in their respective home states claiming that state officials had violated their 14th Amendment rights by denying them the right to marry or by refusing to recognize marriages legally performed in other states. In each District Court, the petitioners received a favorable ruling. However, upon appeal, the Sixth Circuit Court of the United States consolidated the cases and reversed the ruling of the District Courts, which precipitated the Supreme Court’s agreement to hear the case.
The Reasoning of the Court
In the majority opinion written by Justice Anthony Kennedy, the Court pointed in particular to four principles and traditions that demonstrate both the existence of a fundamental right to marriage under the Constitution and its application with equal force to same-sex couples. First, the Court argued the right to personal choice when it comes to marriage is inherent in the concept of individual autonomy, an autonomy that exists regardless of one’s sexual orientation.
Second, because the fundamental right to marry supports a two-person union unlike any other in terms of its importance to committed individuals. The Court held that this right confers and protects an intimate association that equally extends to same-sex couples.
Third, the right to marry safeguards children and families and benefits from other rights such as childbearing, procreation and education. However, because married couples can choose not to procreate or can be prevented from doing so due to other physical difficulties, the right to marry cannot be conditioned on the capacity or commitment to procreate and, thereby, cannot be used as a reason to exclude same-sex couples from marriage. Further, the Court held that denying children of same-sex couples the recognition, stability and predictability of marriage can stigmatize them and cause them to feel their family is less.
Finally, the decision stated that both Supreme Court cases and the traditions of the United States establish the fundamental role marriage plays in the country. Marriage, in fact, is at the center of many aspects of the legal and social order. When applied to married couples, there can be no distinction made between same-sex and opposite-sex couples in the enjoyment and exercise of this central national institution.
THE REACTION OF THE U.S. BISHOPS
President of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville issued a statement on the same day the Court’s decision was announced. The full statement can be found at the USCCB website (www.usccb.org). In his remarks, Archbishop Kurtz noted that the nature of the human person and marriage are unchanged regardless of a decision by the Supreme Court or any court. He went on to say that it “is profoundly immoral and unjust for the government to declare that two people of the same sex can constitute a marriage.” He reaffirmed the commitment of Catholic bishops to “follow our Lord” and continue to teach and to act according to the truth that marriage has been from the beginning and continues to be “the lifelong union of one man and one woman.”
Later, in a follow-up interview with Our Sunday Visitor on June 29, 2015, Archbishop Kurtz stressed the Church’s view of marriage as a sacrament, that is, “an efficacious sign of and participation in the very mystery of Christ and the Church…and sexual difference is essential.” At the same time, he also acknowledged that the Church has “perhaps not done enough to teach the beauty of marriage and the purpose and inherent design of family life.”
For more resources and/or to see what other bishops across the United States have said about the Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage, visit the USCCB website www.marriageuniqueforareason.org.
THE IMPACT ON RELIGIOUS LIBERTY
The decision to legalize same-sex marriage might very well have significant consequences for religious liberty. Justice Kennedy did attempt to assuage any concern in the majority opinion by citing the First Amendment’s protection of religious organizations and persons. However, in his dissent, Chief Justice Roberts questioned what might happen when people of faith exercise religion in ways that may conflict with the right to same-sex marriage (for example, a religious adoption agency declining to place a child with same-sex couples). He concluded that “people of faith can take no comfort in the treatment they receive from the majority (opinion) today.”
Archbishop Kurtz suggested in his interview that the Church “will face greater pressure now to mute our voices… [as] the freedom to run our ministries and participate in the public square while holding to the teachings of Jesus will likely be challenged.” He went on to note that “new legal requirements could threaten the life and work of the Church as well as other religious institutions and individuals of faith.”
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