Professor Sounds Off on Marriage Equality on Huffington Post
As the nation remains gripped by the gay marriage debates currently being heard by the Supreme Court, government professor Sonu Bedi offered his academic expertise to the issue in a high-profileeditorial published on March 26 in the Huffington Post.
A constitutional law expert, Bedi argues that proponents of same sex marriage should adjust their current tactics to focus on the Establishment Clause.
Often the Equal Protection Clause is seen as the big player in this debate, but the Establishment Clause offers a more straightforward solution that’s less subjective, Bedi writes. Ultimately, bans on same sex marriage violate the separation of church and state and therefore this clause of the First Amendment.
Although there are a variety of arguments against same sex marriage, Bedi says that these all boil down to a “religious view of marriage.” Focusing on the Establishment Clause appeals to “a longstanding principle of our Constitution” and can be seen as enforcing this principle rather than creating new rights.
According to Bedi, advocates must take the “religious argument” and “make it a force for same sex marriage.”
Bedi’s post has received over 700 likes on Facebook and was shared over 200 times on the popular social media site.