Preserving the Freedom to Speak about Marriage

                The liberty principle for this Freedom Friday is the importance of preserving our freedom to speak about traditional marriage.  The debate about marriage is far from over even though five Justices on the United States Supreme Court decided to trample on the Constitution and fundamentally change the meaning of marriage.  By a very narrow margin the Justices moved the United States into the same position as Canada; they are the only two nations in the entire world to force same-sex marriage on their citizens.

                Tony Perkins published an essay at the Daily Signal  sharing his opinion that the Court’s ruling ended “the liberal media’s charade.  Whatever scrap of journalistic impartiality existed flew out the courtroom window Friday when the press decided five justices not only invented a right to same-sex marriage but to censorship, too.  The press is no longer a guardian against censorship but a portender of it.”

                Members of the lame stream press are celebrating the Court’s decision because it tried for years to stop the debate about same-sex marriage.  “Desperate to take away the voice of Christians at the public table, the left is already on the march to undermine the very freedom that gives breath to the speech it now enjoys…. [M]uch of the media have declared victory over a dispute that’s barely existed two decades.  Americans who believe in thousands of years of human history must now surrender to a 4-day-old `right’ – or shut up altogether.”

                Perkins gave as an example a newspaper in Pennsylvania declared that they would “no longer accept, nor … print, op-eds and letters to the editor in opposition to same-sex marriage….  This is not hard:  We would not print racist, sexist or anti-Semitic letters.  To that, we add homophobic ones.  Pretty simple.”

                This type of conversation is happening at many media places; unfortunately for them, this is the one that went public.  “People were outraged and flooded the newspaper with scathing emails and phone calls.  Within hours, the editors issued an apology.  It was, John Micek, said, a `genuine attempt at fostering civil discussion.’  (Not very genuine, it seems, since ending the discussion doesn’t exactly foster one.)  Still, Micek said, `These pages … belong to the people of Central Pennsylvania.  I’m a conduit, I recognize, for them to share their views and to have the arguments that make us better as a people.  And all views are – and always will be – welcome.’  For how long, no one knows.”

                Editors at The Daily Beast are calling the four conservative Justices’ votes “treason.”  Ken Blackwell, a senior fellow at the Family Research Council, appeared on ABC’s “This Week With George Stephanopoulos to discuss the marriage decision, and “left-wing groups mobilized thousands of people to contact the network, demanding it ban him from future shows.  It’s a deliberate attempt to silence your voice, which we represent in Washington.”

                Reverend Franklin Graham said, “You better be ready and you better be prepared because it’s coming….  There will be persecution of Christians for our stand.”

                The media has constantly told Americans that support for same-sex marriage was strong.  They apparently said it often enough that they actually believe it.  When millions of Americans push back on the effort to silence them, the media will be shocked.  The Family Research Council launched a new movement called Project Tolerance:  Preserving Your Voice in the Public Square.  You can join the pushback at this site.    I encourage you to go there and become an ambassador for preserving freedom to speak about marriage.