National Harbor, MD– The American Conservative Union hosted a panel on the issue of marriage and religious liberty at their annual Conservative Political Action Conference. Our very own Guy Benson was on a panel with Ryan Anderson of the Heritage Foundation, Mollie Hemingway of The Federalist, and IIya Shapiro of the Cato Institute; the discussion was moderated by Breitbart’s Alex Swoyer.
Before the discussion, Benson asked the audience how they felt about the marriage equality. The room was rather diverse, with maybe a few dozen hands more raising their hands in opposition to the concept of gay marriage. Yet, a significant number of hands were raised in support of gay marriage. That’s good. That’s healthy, and it stimulates debate on this issue that is often blown out of proportion by the media, or silenced by the rabid forces of the progressive left.
Anderson felt that the issue of marriage isn’t mentioned in the Constitution, and the Supreme Court certainly doesn’t have the authority to thrust a new definition of marriage upon all 50 states. Hemingway made a point that children are often not talked about when it comes to the issue of gay marriage. At the same time, she did mention that we can have discussion about this issue, and it can be done civilly.
Benson aptly noted that a panel such as this could never have been conducted at a left wing conference without boos, hissing, and other disruptive shenanigans. He later lamented that even though we see those “coexist” stickers on cars, that concept in liberal America is a culture in which people are sued out of their livelihoods because they happen to disagree with someone on any given issue.
Hemingway added that the people who are being sued are often not bigots, but people who have strong religious beliefs. Also, she added that these are individuals, not powerful pastors that have the types of protections that a church relationship provides.
As the panel closed, Benson said that conservatives should be promoting strong families, and that the declining trend of marriage among younger Americans is troubling. Being a cornerstone of American society, the concept of strong families is something that everyone can agree on - even Democrats.