Most of the gay groups have gone ballistic over president Bush’s Clintonian statements last night on the Federal Marriage Amendment. I guess I should be clear. I don’t believe basic issues of civil rights should be resolved by Clinton-like, almost-impenetrable phrases designed to appease all parties. But I am relieved that the president has essentially refused to endorse the religious right’s current effort to amend the Constitution. David Frum agrees with my analysis. But his arguments are revealing:
The longer we wait, however, the more likely it is that the ultimate result will be unfavorable. As for the US Supreme Court, nobody should feel any confidence about what it will do. The current court is highly unlikely to go as far as the Massachusetts court and discover a right of same-sex marriage in the US Constitution. But if offered an opportunity to over-rule the Defense of Marriage Act on highly technical grounds that did not involve same-sex marriage as such – well, I strongly suspect that Justices Breyer, Ginsburg, Kennedy, and Souter would accept, and Justice O’Connor might well follow.
The best argument against the Federal Marriage Amendment is that it might well lose, after which conservatives would be worse off than ever. And so it would be, if the Amendment were to lose badly. But if it were to lose narrowly, the FMA could nonetheless shock some reason into the courts.
When David is arguing in such defeatist terms, you know they’re up against it. But hitching the Constitution to a position that is fast losing popular support seems to me to be an abuse of that document. It should be amended only when there’s an overwhelming consensus on a strictly Constitutional matter – not when the country is deeply split on a social and cultural issue. Then he suggests trying to amend the constitution even if it’s doomed to failure. How’s that for abuse of a sacred document? The gay issue does strange things to presidents. Clinton said all the right things – and then enacted and supported some of the most anti-gay measures ever (DOMA, “Don’t ask, Don’t Tell”). Bush still cannot even say the words ‘gay’ or ‘lesbian’ but hasn’t done anything that damaging to gay men and women; and, by his ambivalence, might help kill an anti-gay Constitutional amendment. Go figure.
GIMLI GETS IT: If you want an antidote to Viggo Mortensen on the meaning of Tolkien, check out this interview with John Rhys-Davis, who plays Gimli. I saw Mortensen on TV the other night saying that the “Lord of The Rings” was all about bringing people together, eschewing violence, promoting peace, etc etc. Poor guy. Cute, but dumb as a post. Rhys-Davies is smarter:
“I’m burying my career so substantially in these interviews that it’s painful. But I think that there are some questions that demand honest answers. I think that Tolkien says that some generations will be challenged. And if they do not rise to meet that challenge, they will lose their civilization. That does have a real resonance with me… What is unconscionable is that too many of your fellow journalists do not understand how precarious Western civilization is and what a jewel it is.
How did we get the sort of real democracy, how did we get the level of tolerance that allows me to propound something that may be completely alien to you around this table, and yet you will take it and you will think about it and you’ll say no you’re wrong because of this and this and this. And I’ll listen and I’ll say, “Well, actually, maybe I am wrong because of this and this.”
[He points at a female reporter and adopts an authoritarian voice, to play a militant-Islam character:] ‘You should not be in this room. Because your husband or your father is not here to guide you. You could only be here in this room with these strange men for immoral purposes.’
I mean … the abolition of slavery comes from Western democracy. True Democracy comes from our Greco-Judeo-Christian-Western experience. If we lose these things, then this is a catastrophe for the world.
Exactly. That is what I believe my generation has been called to protect – and this extraordinary, and deeply Catholic, movie couldn’t have come at a better time.
The Dish 