House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, no friend of gay equality,
was
quoted in the Washington Times on congressional action to save
Terri Schiavo from forced starvation at the hands of her
husband:
"The sanctity of life overshadows the sanctity of marriage," Mr. DeLay said. He said that unless Mrs. Schiavo had previous written instructions, "I don't care what her husband said."
This led blogger Paul at "Right Side of the Rainbow," who
opposes saving the life of Terri Schiavo, to
write:
Is the manner in which [Delay] dismisses Mrs. Schiavo's husband distinguishable from the manner in which he would dismiss a gay man's partner? I doubt gay relationships have risen in Rep. DeLay's estimation; rather, the significance of heterosexual ones have fallen.
Blogger Paul comes out in favor of "the traditional right of spouses" and accuses the Republicans of attempting "to substitute their own judgment for that of Mrs. Schiavo's legal husband."
But as James Taranto writes in the Wall Street Journal's
Opinion
Journal:
Supporters of Michael Schiavo's effort to end his wife's life have asked how conservatives, who claim to believe in the sanctity of marriage, can fail to respect his husbandly authority. The most obvious answer is that a man's authority as a husband does not supersede his wife's rights as a human being - a principle we never thought we'd see liberals question.
On one hand, you'd think there'd be pleasure in the fact that conservative Republicans are placing some value (i.e., saving a woman's life at the pleading request of her frantic parents) above "the sanctity of marriage," while gay activists - and even some gay Republicans - suddenly are in support of the full rights of traditional marriage and patriarchy, reducing a woman to the disposable property of her spouse.
Addendum - the anti-federalist contention.
While in most respects I find arguments against increasing federal
encroachment to be persuasive, sometimes rigid adherence to
principle must give way to simple decency. And I remain unmoved by
liberals who are eager to offer up Terri Schiavo as a human
sacrifice in honor of their newly feigned fealty to state judicial
autonomy.
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