Just came across this gem and I thought I would share it. It is Justice
Scalia comparing discrimination against homosexuals in our age to discrimination against polygamist Mormons in the 19th century. He concludes
that there was nothing wrong (at least constitutionally) with discriminating
against Mormons, and so there is nothing wrong with discriminating against gay
people. This favorable endorsement of religious/sexual intolerance in American
history is fairly shocking.
This is also the text where Scalia predicts that if the Courts protect the rights of homosexuals, then they will also have to protect polygamists against discrimination. (Oh No! Can't be extending Constitutional protection to the Brown family!)
This is also the text where Scalia predicts that if the Courts protect the rights of homosexuals, then they will also have to protect polygamists against discrimination. (Oh No! Can't be extending Constitutional protection to the Brown family!)
We, as Mormons, should be the biggest advocates for gay rights. Mormons
were the gays of the 1800s. (Of course gays were also the gays of the 1800s.)
Anyways, here it is:
"But there is a
much closer analogy, one that involves precisely the effort by the majority of
citizens to preserve its view of sexual morality statewide, against the efforts
of a geographically concentrated and politically powerful minority to undermine
it. The constitutions of the States of Arizona, Idaho, New Mexico, Oklahoma,
and Utah to this day contain provisions stating that polygamy is ‘forever
prohibited.’ … The Court's disposition today suggests that these
provisions are unconstitutional, and that polygamy must be permitted in these
States on a state-legislated, or perhaps even local option, basis—unless, of
course, polygamists for some reason have fewer constitutional rights than homosexuals."
--Justice Antonin Scalia, dissenting opinion in Romer v. Evans.
