Maggie Gallagher has a must-read article in the current Weekly Standard that should awaken anyone inclined to support (or acquiesce in) so-called same-sex marriage on “live and let live” grounds. Gallagher reviews a set of analyses submitted by legal scholars who have a wide range of views on the desirability of same-sex marriage. All agree, though, that same-sex marriage would present a serious clash (what one calls a “very dangerous train wreck”) with religious liberty. (On The Corner, Stanley Kurtz, who along with Gallagher, has led the way in seriously exploring the broader implications of same-sex marriage, offers observations on Gallagher’s article here and here.)
The papers Gallagher reviews were submitted at a conference organized by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which does a tremendous job fighting for religious liberty of persons of all faiths in the United States and throughout the world. (I like to think of the Becket Fund as the Ethics and Public Policy Center of its field.) As it happens, I will be attending the Becket Fund’s annual Canterbury Medal dinner—always quite an event—in New York on Thursday evening.