George,

The rule of law in this country is based on the Constitution, which describes certain enumerated rights and leaves other things to be spelled out at the state level. In terms of same sex marriage, this has, so far, been left up to the states, resulting in several states defining marriage as only between a man and a woman, even at the state constitutional level, as in Virginia. However, it seems to me that whether or not one sees marriage as only between a man and a woman depends on one's particular religious take on this issue. There are churches which are willing to marry same sex couples.

The Founding Fathers intentionally made the Constitution a secular document (see "The Godless Constitution:The Case Against Religious Correctness" by Issac Kramnick and R. Laurence Moore, 1997, 1996). The Constitution does not mention marriage, and certainly not as to the gender of a couple. The Constitution does guarantee individual Constitutional rights. There is a phrase in the First Amendmend that is overlooked. It guarantees not only "freedom of religion" but also "and the free exercise thereof"! I believe that if one considers the Founding Father's intention of leaving religious practices and beliefs up to the individual and the various religious faiths/denominations, AND if one interprets the second phrase "and the free exercise thereof" - then the various interpretations and thus practices of religious groups are ALL to be protected (for example, Roman Catholics recognize only one marriage as valid for a person--theoretically--or say that their priests cannot {in more modern times} be married, whereas other denominations recognize divorce, even divorced ministers).

Therefore, if a church/denomination acknowledges same sex couples & chooses to "marry" them, so be it - that should be up to the particular churches. What is guaranteed by the Constitution for all are our basic rights; how one regards the practice of marriage is up to individuals/churches. Thus, unions between couples, regardless of gender, should have their civil rights protected. The state should guarantee these rights by calling all unions "civil unions" and leave it up to the churches as to whether or not they wish to perform same sex "marriages". Basic rights under the Constitution cannot be taken away by various states (southern states can no longer practice slavery - 13th Amendment).

The first amendment & Bill of Rights were spelled out by the Founding Fathers. As to an anticipated argument that the Founding Fathers permitted slavery to exist, I believe that this was a pragmatic decision that even John Adams had to swallow, in order to get the Constitution off the ground, for if slavery had been abolished in all states (including South Carolina and Georgia) rather than left up to the individual states, then the Constitution would never have gotten off the ground. In their wisdom, the Founding Fathers provided a process, by amendment, whereby the Constitution could be added to and parts even changed - thus the 13th Amendment, albeit after a Civil War!

Sallie Kate Park (Electronic mail, December 16, 2008)