Your Opinion: Basic question is equal treatment under the law

Dear Editor:

Reading the letters to the editor on July 1 by Durbin and Horstmann reminded me of the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C. Both authors complain that the Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v. Hodges legalizing same sex marriage corrupts the Constitution by making a decision that the original writers of the Fourteenth Amendment did not intend, namely that citizens have the right to marry someone of the same sex.

Durbin makes the argument that the Supreme Court has now become "the court of popular opinion," and of course Horstman continues his theme about the "war on Christianity."

Inside the Jefferson Memorial, on the southeast corner, is text taken from a letter written by Thomas Jefferson to Samuel Kercheval on July 12, 1816. "I am not an advocate for frequent changes in laws and constitutions. But laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths discovered and manners and opinions change, with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also to keep pace with the times. We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors."

Of even greater relevance are Thomas Jefferson's sentences in the original letter immediately preceding that quoted: "Some men look at constitutions with sanctimonious reverence, and deem them like the arc of the covenant, too sacred to be touched. They ascribe to the men of the preceding age a wisdom more than human, and suppose what they did to be beyond amendment."

The Constitution as originally written did not apply to women. Should it? The Constitution did not apply to people of color. Should it? The first paragraph of the Fourteenth Amendment reads: All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States.

The basic question before the court in Obergefell v. Hodges was equal treatment under the law. The Supreme Court opinion was simple and straightforward; The Constitution of the United States does indeed apply to citizens who are gay.