Equally Gay

Since our President has finally finished his deep meditations on the question of Gay marriage, it would seem apropos to reiterate some thoughts I have had on the subject. First, this line from President Obama's recent remarks:

I've just concluded that, for me personally, it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married.

I also note all of the headlines and commentary on the passing of Amendment 1 to the North Carolina Constitution, defining marriage as between a man and a woman, which describe the Amendment as "banning" Gay marriage.

Tut, tut to all of this. Contra the President, same-sex couples right now, today, have the right to get married in every State in the Union. In 2010, I posted the following:

Gays in California (and every State of the Union) have every right to get married, whenever they want, with whoever they want. They can go out and start their own church - or get a friend, like Joey Tribiani of Friends, to go on the Internet and become a bona fide priest of the "Church of Agnostic Hope" or some such - get a group together and have a solemn ceremony. Bingo, marrried. And then they can cohabitate to their hearts content and tell everyone that they are married.

Continue.....

Or, as Ryan T. Anderson put it much, much better in The Corner the other day:

Today's vote in North Carolina is not about banning anything. Nothing will be made illegal as a result. In all fifty states across the nation two people of the same sex can live together, have their religious community bless their union, and have their workplace offer them various joint benefits — if the religious communities and workplaces in question so desire. Many liberal houses of worship and progressive businesses have voluntarily decided to do so. There's nothing illegal about this. There's no ban on it.

You should read the whole thing by Mr. Anderson. He very rightly highlights that what we have here is a framing problem. If you begin from the standpoint that Gays cannot marry unless the State positively recognizes the relationship in some manner, then it feels like an equal protection of the laws issue. But we have no positive State laws recognizing our right to join Book Clubs, do we? Does that raise any important rights questions? Of course not. Everyone is perfectly free to join the Book Club of their choice, and more power to them. 

Similarly, Gays have no need for statutory authority to marry anyone they like. If they so earnestly need some sort of positive law to help them make the big commitment, how about the Constitution? See, e.g., Freedom of Association and Speech.