Founding Father and eventual President James Madison warned against the “tyranny of the majority” in the country’s early days. The tyranny he referred to was the power an elected majority — or majority of citizens — can wield over a subjugated minority. Unfortunately, this tyranny exists today in the form of one anti-gay-marriage group’s aspirations.
The National Organization For Marriage, a New Jersey-based group, heavily funded Republican candidate Stephen Burgmeier’s campaign for the Iowa Legislature through its Reclaim Iowa Project in a special election earlier this month. Burgmeier lost to Democrat Curt Hanson in a close race, but Brian Brown, the organization’s executive director, vowed to continue the Reclaim Iowa Project in 2010 and keep the issue of same-sex marriage very much alive in Iowa.
The project continues to raise money for candidates opposed to same-sex marriage and represents a threat to marriage equality in Iowa.
The group’s ultimate goal is to force the gay-marriage issue to a popular vote. The organization hopes its Reclaim Iowa Project will help elect enough legislators opposed to same-sex marriage to amend Iowa’s Constitution. The state Constitution requires two Legislatures to approve a constitutional referendum. Each assembly of the Legislature is two years. If a majority of Iowans vote for the constitutional amendment, it is incorporated into the state Constitution.
The conservative organization — which didn’t respond to attempts for a comment — justifies its interference by saying it wants to allow the people to decide on the issue rather than a group of activist judges. But that’s not how a liberal democracy determines rights. The National Organization For Marriage and people pushing for a constitutional amendment on the grounds that it’s more democratic need a lesson in civics and comparative politics.
The organization’s feelings toward same-sex marriage are strong, but its arguments against gay marriage also prove weak under scrutiny.
The group emphasizes heterosexual marriage’s importance in society, raising children, and the dire consequences of its collapse. If the organization believes marriage is society’s linchpin, it should promote marriages of both the hetero- and homosexual varieties. Instead, the group says only heterosexual couples can raise children properly.
Social scientific observation would disagree. Several studies published over the last couple decades have found no evidence children living in same-sex households develop any differently from children living in heterosexual households.
The National Organization For Marriage’s argument that same-sex marriage harms “traditional” marriage is perhaps its most perplexing and dubious. It argues that allowing same-sex marriage strips people’s right to define marriage as between a man and woman. The organization claims people who do so will be branded as bigots and that local and federal governments may strip churches that don’t recognize same-sex marriages of their tax-exempt status.
Those fears are unwarranted in America. Moderate and liberal citizens may label people opposed to same-sex marriage as bigots — we do — but the government will not persecute them for their beliefs. The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld the right of private groups to exclude others under the First Amendment. And the Iowa Supreme Court said in its unanimous *Varnum v. Brien* decision in April that religious organizations still retain the right to refuse to marry same-sex couples. The state only loses the power to deny same-sex couples the rights they deserve.
A liberal democracy such as ours distinguishes itself from other democracies by guaranteeing citizens’ rights through a strong Constitution. One of the Supreme Court’s main roles is to determine citizens’ rights by interpreting the Constitution. Ruling by simple majority paves the way for tyranny — hence “tyranny of the majority.”
Individual liberties are not just for the majority to enjoy; individual rights are for everyone. The National Organization For Marriage should realize that and stop trying to undermine the values Americans hold dear.