Fred favors a marriage amendment that would grant homosexual marriage to states if their legislatures choose it. That would trump the current federal DOMA. He says it would make sure the full faith and credit clause could not be used to force other states to recognize the marriages, but I don’t see how. What about federal recognition and benefits? Does a homosexual married pair file federal taxes as “married filing jointly”? If so, do they become unmarried if they move to another state? He can’t have it both ways. He can’t let the state choose by writing that “right” into the Constitution and then deny those marriages federal recognition and benefits like all other marriages. If they are recognized as legitimate by the FEDERAL government then the definition of marriage has been changed for the entire nation. His plan is ridiculous and contradicts the DOMA which he voted for. It would also probably overturn the state amendments and thereby leave every state more vulnerable to a radical redefinition as soon as the liberals get a majority for even a brief time in any given state. Once conservatives win back a majority, how do you unmarry the couples? You can’t! So we would be no better off than if a judge decreed the marriages. Marriage is not something you can give and then take back like other policy issues.
State decisions are not written into the US Constitution. Fred's supports the States making their own decisions on a matter that is not in the purview of the Federal Govt. The only thing the govt. has to do with it is within the Full Faith and Credit clause, and that can be changed by Congress, it doesn't need another amendment to the Constitution. This would allow States to NOT officially recognize the 'marriage' of homosexuals that took place in a different state. He would also remove the ability of Federal judges to tamper with decisions made by the voters and legislatures in a State regarding homosexual 'marriage'. These are things that can be done without having to go through the time needed to ratify an amendment to the Constitution.