Courts, Government

South Carolina Governor Plans To Axe Gay Marriage Citing Compelling Legal Doctrine Of 'Our Traditions'

The gloves are well and truly off now, kids.

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(Photo by Ted Eytan / Flickr)

Last night, sitting South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster stood on the debate stage and said that he was all for repealing marriage equality.

“Gay marriage in our constitution is not allowed and in state law is not allowed. I would follow state law whatever the state law is,” said the Republican executive, who championed the 2006 constitutional amendment banning gay marriage as the state’s then-attorney general.

“Maybe I’m old fashioned, but I think marriage ought to be between a man and a woman, just like I think that boys ought to play in boys’ sports and girls ought to play girls’ sports,” he added, helpfully padding his bigotry with the obligatory kick at trans kids.

As the South Carolina Post and Courier reports, the response seemed to take Democratic challenger Joe Cunningham by surprise, as the former congressman has been trying to pin the governor down on his position for weeks. But McMaster, who holds a comfortable lead in the polls, appears not to be concerned, even though half his constituents support gay marriage.

“You have to have some common sense in this arena, which seems to be changing all the time,” he went on. “But I think that our traditions are strong, and I think they’re there for a reason.”

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Is the reason to entrench a power structure that benefits the people making the laws? McMaster did not elaborate.

Does it count as saying the quiet part out loud if it’s not a slip?

Because now that they’ve got six Supreme Court justices on their side, it doesn’t seem like conservatives are trying to hide their plan to roll back the clock on civil rights generally. It’s not just Roe and Heller on the chopping block — it’s Obergefell, Griswold, Bostock, Fisher … and God only knows what else.

And it doesn’t matter that Americans support gun control, abortion rights, and gay marriage. They’ve got the power, and by God they intend to use it.

Second class citizenship today, second class citizenship tomorrow, second class citizenship forever.

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Liz Dye lives in Baltimore where she writes about law and politics.

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