November (Web-only) 2003

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The surprise today is not that conservative religious activists are upset about yesterday's Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruling "that barring an individual from the protections, benefits, and obligations of civil marriage solely because that person would marry a person of the same sex violates the Massachusetts Constitution."

The surprise is the degree to which they're condemning it. The Washington Times underplays the reaction: "Traditional-values groups expressed relief that the high court didn't order state officials to start issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples, but decried the decision as a national travesty."

Apart from a statement from Family Research Council president Tony Perkins, Weblog hasn't actually seen many "relieved" comments from profamily organizations. Instead, they're more like the statement from pundit Gary Bauer quoted later in the Times article. Calling the decision "the most intolerant act of judicial tyranny in recent memory," Bauer called for open revolt. "Perhaps it is time for another Boston Tea Party. The heirs of Bunker Hill and Concord Bridge should not passively accept this decision by four robed individuals."

It's worse than tyranny, said Focus on the Family founder James Dobson. "This is a very sad day in the life of this country, and one that I believe invites the very judgment of God as we move arrogantly away from our moral underpinnings," he said on today's radio broadcast. "He will not be mocked, and we warned us through the prophet Isaiah, 'Woe to those who call evil good and good evil.' … That's what happened yesterday in the state of Massachusetts.'"

Dobson, who said the decision "should not be all that surprising even though it is a profoundly disturbing development," ...