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Eleven years ago, the Supreme Court issued its decision in Obergefell v. Hodges and we were told immediately that the marriage issue was settled. Same-sex marriage was the law of the land, the culture had moved on, and anyone who still had reservations needed to catch up. That narrative has been repeated so relentlessly, for so long, that many people simply accepted it as fact, but a new poll suggests it isn’t.
A survey of twelve hundred conservative and moderate likely voters conducted by The Decision Company found that ninety-six percent of those voters say it is important for a child to be raised with both an involved mother and an involved father. Eighty-two percent agree that no child should be deliberately denied a mother or a father. Seventy-eight percent say that when a child’s needs conflict with an adult’s desires, the child’s needs should come first. Sixty-six percent reject the claim that being raised by same-sex parents is no different for a child than being raised by a mother and father. And sixty-three percent agree that children are harmed when they lose a mother or father to be raised in a same-sex household.
These are not fringe numbers. These are the convictions of ordinary conservative and moderate Americans — and they reveal a profound gap between what the cultural elite has declared settled and what the people actually believe.
What Obergefell actually did was redefine not just marriage but parenthood. Once husbands and wives became legally optional in marriage, mothers and fathers became legally optional in parenthood. The child’s natural right to both was quietly subordinated to adult desire.
This is the same moral logic the pro-life movement has been fighting for fifty years — the logic that places adult convenience above the needs and rights of the most vulnerable. The lesson from that long fight is instructive. The Supreme Court cannot permanently settle an issue that is so far upstream of its jurisdiction, but that that doesn’t mean they won’t try and we won’t spend years trying to unwind it. Roe v. Wade lasted fifty years before it fell.
Children deserve the truth. We owe it to them to keep telling it.
Preserving the family will be a top conversation at Eagle Council 55. Register today at EagleCouncil.com to join us next month in Dallas, again that’s EagleCouncil.com. Stay informed and join us again for the Phyllis Schlafly Report.
