PFAW Foundation and its leadership programs, African American Ministers Leadership Council – Equal Justice Task Force, Young Elected Officials Network, and Young People For, are united in their support for the #Unite4Marriage coalition. Marriage equality supporters are currently organizing around the April 28 oral arguments before the Supreme Court and a ruling expected in the coming months on whether the fundamental right to marry enshrined in the US Constitution is limited to opposite-sex couples. There will be events in DC and in communities across the country.
Back in January, PFAW Foundation President Michael Keegan applauded the Court’s decision to hear the four Sixth Circuit cases.
This is unquestionably an important step towards marriage equality for all Americans. Since the Sixth Circuit got this wrong and denied people in four states their basic rights, the Supreme Court did the right thing by taking these cases. Now the Court needs to do the right thing by making a clear statement about the Constitution’s guarantee of fundamental equality for all people. The time is long overdue for every American to have the right to marry the person they love.
That said, this is likely to be yet another five-four decision from the Court that gave us Citizens United and Hobby Lobby and gutted the Voting Rights Act. That should be a reminder that our fundamental rights are in jeopardy in our nation’s highest court — and the future of the Court and these rights will be in the next president’s hands. Americans should be able to depend on the Supreme Court to defend the rights of ordinary Americans — whether that’s the right to marry, or to vote, or to be treated fairly on the job, or to control their own reproductive health.
Today is an important step towards full equality for same-sex couples—and a powerful reminder that every American should be concerned about the balance of the Supreme Court.
[C]ontrary to the arguments of some who defend the marriage bans, invalidating the bans will not jeopardize religious liberty. As an initial matter, the cases before this Court concern whether same-sex couples are entitled to the benefits of civil marriage. Religious groups will remain free, as they always have been, to choose how to define religious marriage and which marriages to solemnize…. Religious liberty should serve as a shield, not as a sword to discriminate against members of a disadvantaged minority group.
We’ll share more about #Unite4Marriage as we hear it.
See you on the 28th!