Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2013
Abstract
The political and legal campaign for marriage equality rests on the proposition that the Constitution of the United States requires communal recognition of committed, same-sex relationships. The text, structure, and history of the amended Constitution, however, support precisely the opposite conclusion: i.e., that neither the United States nor any state may compel any community, association, or individual to affirm (by word, deed, or policy) the hotly disputed propositions about human sexuality that lie at the core of the debate. Nor can it plausibly be argued that any part of the Constitution requires any person, association, or polity to remain discreetly silent while progressive and LGBT positions on human sexuality become the new orthodoxy in public policy, lest dissent-openly expressed by word or deed-be taken as conclusive evidence of intolerance, lack of social sophistication, "homophobia," or actionable hostility.
Recommended Citation
Robert A. Destro, You Have the Right to Remain Silent: Does the U.S. Constitution Require Public Affirmation of Same-Sex Marriage, 27 BYU J. PUB. L. 397 (2013).