Ted Olson Talks Marriage With Morrison

Patt Morrison of the Los Angeles Times had an interview with attorney Ted Olson, who, along with David Boies, is leading a challenge of the California Marriage Amendment in federal court. Morrison lists some of his conservative credentials before the Q & A. I wanted to take a look at some of Olson's answers.

But we are discriminating unfairly and unreasonably against gay and lesbian individuals, and it's the wrong thing for us to do.

Okay, let's unpack that statement.

How are we discriminating unfairly against homosexual individuals? We are treating them exactly the same as every other individual. That's not discrimination, and it isn't unfair, unless you want to argue that they should be treated differently under the law than everyone else. That would be discrimination.

How is it unreasonable to maintain bride+groom marriage licensing? The state has an interest in licensing marriage that it does not have is licensing the personal relationship between two men or two women.

It is wrong for us to do that? So there is a right and a wrong apart from the law? How is this morality determined? Don't invoke the people - we voted for the CMA. Don't invoke God, a church, or religion - and tell us how maintaining marriage is wrong.

[Make the jump if you want to read more.]

On Boies:

I thought we needed someone who was a well-recognized lawyer but who would provide balance for my perspective. I wanted to convey the message that this was not Republican or Democrat, conservative or liberal, that this is about human rights and human decency and constitutional law.

This shouldn't be a partisan issue. We should all be for strengthening marriage and family, and encouraging that children be born and raised within a stable, healthy married home with a mother and a father.

I hope some people will open their eyes to the decency of getting to the point where we allow gay and lesbian individuals to be married and have a happy life.

Nobody is stopping them from getting "married" or being happy. State licensing should be up to the people of a state, however.

A woman came up to me in our library in our law firm and said, "You and I haven't worked together, but I'm a lesbian. My partner and I have two children."

Where is/are the father(s)? Those women did not make those children alone, nor together. They use at least one man's genetic material. Those children are being deprived of a father.

It is a conservative value to respect the relationship that people seek to have with one another, a stable, committed relationship that provides a backbone for our community, for our economy. I think conservatives should value that.

Same-sex pairings are a dead end for our society, and taint the notion of same-sex friendships. I don’t respect or support all both-sexes pairings because some of them are detrimental to the participants, so should I automatically respect the pairing of two men or two women, especially if they engage in detrimental behavior. I wouldn't try to stop anyone from pairing up to live together, to have a ceremony marking it, etc. I wouldn't stop their effort to get their employer to recognize their relationship. But the problem comes when they demand I abandon my convictions and my vote on public policy.

Olson lost his third wife suddenly (in the 9/11/2001 terrorist attacks), which must have been incredibly painful. He is now married to a Democrat who supports Obama. Assuming that he has truly held the principles of the Federalist Society and other conservative organizations with which he has been involved, I this may be somewhat revealing about his view of marriage.