The equal rights provision

One of the biggest gay rights issues in the United States today is the crusade for the legalization of same sex marriage. The state of Vermont has already approved it. And American gays and lesbians want to further extend (expand) it to the rest of the nation, presumably including the CNMI, Guam and other U.S. territories.

Although the CNMI is still a predominantly Catholic jurisdiction, same-sex marriage could eventually become a legal reality in the CNMI. If the U.S. courts approve it, we will have no choice but to accept it.

Our cultural and religious concerns are totally irrelevant when it comes to the application of federal law. If the Covenant agreement does not specifically make an exception–as it does with the Article 12 land alienation provision–the CNMI has no legal or political recourse. All other federal laws must equally apply.

As it stands today, if a married gay Vermont couple decides to move to the CNMI and make our islands their permanent home, our local government probably has to recognize and uphold their marriage.

Many conservative CNMI residents will no doubt find this prospect extremely disturbing. A few might wholeheartedly agree with it, viewing it as a kind of civil or human right. Personally, I am all for it–but only on one condition: that the reasoning behind the gay marriage campaign be consistently and rigorously applied.

The way I see it: If gay people want their freedom to choose, if they want their freedom of association–their civil and human rights–then heterosexual men ought to be entitled to the same claims with respect to polygamy. For all of the arguments used to advance same sex marriage could easily be applied to polygamy as well. If gay marriage is to be upheld, then polygamy must also be embraced for the exact same reasons.

The First Amendment of the American Bill of Rights states that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof . . .” Very well, then under this fundamental protection, Islam and possibly Mormonism, which may support polygamy, are severely undermined or violated. Present marriage laws clearly favor the establishment of the traditional Judeo-Christian religion.

Enough is enough. As long as we are going to accept same sex marriage, we might as well embrace polygamy as well. Let’s be fair and logically consistent here.