Earlier today, we noted that anti-gay activists are very upset that hundreds of corporations and business groups, including a few professional sports teams, have submitted a brief to the Supreme Court in support of marriage equality, with some activists calling for a boycott of those who have signed on to the brief.
Now the right-wing Cardinal Newman Society has added its voice to the chorus of outrage by demanding that no person in leadership at any of the businesses that signed on the marriage equality brief be allowed to speak at, receive any sort of accolade from, or be allowed to serve on any board or committee at any Catholic institution in the nation:
The Cardinal Newman Society therefore urges Catholic schools, colleges and universities to refrain from all honors—including public recognition, honorary speaking platforms, and honored positions on boards and committees—for board members and senior leaders of these 379 corporations and business groups.
The Cardinal Newman Society promotes and defends faithful Catholic education. For more than two decades, the Newman Society has raised concerns about lecturers, commencement speakers and other honorees at Catholic colleges and universities whose public statements and actions oppose Catholic moral teaching and practice. We will publicly warn Catholic families and their bishops and pastors about any school, college or university that chooses to honor any board member or senior leader of the 379 corporations and business groups that joined in the March 5th brief. Any such honor does harm to the Catholic Church and undermines our bishops, who have clearly explained why Catholics must defend marriage without compromise.
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The 379 corporations and business groups that filed the amicus brief argue that national recognition of same-sex marriage is necessary to avoid the “economic burden” of a “fractured legal landscape” across states. That is a shortsighted and materialistic position that rejects the primacy of the family in American economy and society as well as the principles of American federalism. Whether or not same-sex unions are legally permitted, they are intrinsically immoral and contrary to human nature. Hoping to relieve their own perceived “economic burden,” the amici ignore the plight of businesses and religious organizations that operate according to Catholic beliefs; these should be exempted from recognizing same-sex unions in employment and health care decisions. To ignore religious freedom is to disregard a fundamental principle upon which this nation was founded, thereby endangering Catholic education and other religious services and activities.
The 379 corporations and business groups also contend that “more than seventy percent of Americans live in a state that celebrates and recognizes same-sex marriages,” apparently hoping to convince the Supreme Court of America’s overwhelming support for legalizing same-sex unions. But citizens in only three states—Maine, Maryland and Washington—have voted for laws permitting same-sex marriage. Another 10 states have laws approved by state legislatures. But in 24 states—two-thirds of the states with same-sex marriage—the practice has been imposed by activist courts claiming a right that appears nowhere in the law or in the U.S. Constitution. The fact of court-imposed laws is no basis upon which the Supreme Court or these corporations should deny the nature of marriage and the rights of American citizens to determine state laws.
