The Federal Marriage amendment

Pepperdine Law Professor Douglas W. Kmiec makes very good argument (registration required) for the necessity of a Federal Marriage amendment. I have seen Kmiec on Fox News and don't believe he is one of those "right-wing" pundit types. If he is concerned about a back-door judicial coup on the issue of gay marriage then maybe we should be as well. This paragraph really stood out to me,

With the states being so vigilant in defense of traditional marriage, is there really a need for the people to act? Yes. Activists are deployed across the country challenging traditional marriage, and it is more than likely that some additional judges will compound the Massachusetts mistake. This increased
judicial approval of same-sex marriage will metastasize into the larger culture. Indeed, an insidious, but less recognized, consequence will be a push to demonize--and then punish--faith communities that refuse to bless homosexual unions.

Using the experience of the Boys Scouts as an example Kmiec writes,

While it may be inconceivable for many to imagine America treating churches that oppose gay marriage the same as racists who opposed interracial marriage in the 1960s, just consider the fate of the Boy Scouts. The Scouts have paid dearly for asserting their 1st Amendment right not to be forced to accept gay
scoutmasters. In retaliation, the Scouts have been denied access to public parks and boat slips, charitable donation campaigns and other government benefits. The endgame of gay activists is to strip the Boy Scouts (and by extension, any other organization that morally opposes gay marriage) of its tax-exempt status under both federal and state law.

For technical legal reasons, it is difficult to challenge a religious
group's non-profit status in federal court, but state court is more open. There, judicial decisions approving same-sex marriage or
even state laws barring discrimination can be used to pronounce any opposing moral or religious doctrine to be "contrary to public policy." So declared, it would be short work for a state attorney general's opinion to deny the tax-exempt status of charities and most orthodox Jewish, Christian and Islamic
religious bodies. If enough state lawyers do this, expect the IRS to chime in.

Read the rest of the article and be very concerned! For more read this Stanley Kurtz essay and this Weekly Standard article by Maggie Gallagher. HT Ed Whelan - Bench Memos