Is gay marriage a 'conservative value'?

California's gay-marriage ban may have been overturned but the Prop 8 debate is still churning. Though social conservatives have already put an appeal to the Supreme Court in motion, Ted Olson — the self-decribed conservative attorney who successfully argued for overturning the law and once represented George W. Bush — argues that gay marriage itself is a "conservative value." As he told Fox News over the weekend, "We believe that a conservative value is stable relationships and stable community and loving individuals coming together and forming a basis that is a building block of our society, which includes marriage." Clearly, Ted Olson is "no longer worth listening to on legal matters," says Hogan at Red State. Using the Constitution to "invalidate the will of the people" is judicial activism at its worst. Sorry, says Brad Friedman at his blog, but this ruling was "great news for real conservatives [like Ted Olson] who believe in the U.S. Constitution and its guarantee of equal protection under the law." Watch excerpts from Olson's interview here:

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.

Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.

Sign up