The left at the altar.(Culture Watch)(same sex marriage)

WHAT has the high court of Massachusetts wrought? Don't look to the Democratic presidential candidates for guidance. On the day that a bare majority of the court declared that marriage licenses must be given to same-sex couples, Howard Dean issued a statement so mealy-mouthed and evasive that it did not even include the word "marriage." He suggested that the court had acted in the spirit of the Vermont supreme court, which in 1999 forced the state legislature to create civil unions for homosexual couples. "One way or another," said the supposedly straight-shooting governor, "the state should afford same-sex couples equal treatment under law in areas such as health insurance, hospital visitation and inheritance rights." Dean went on to warn that some people would "try to use the decision today to divide Americans."

John Kerry's statement also referred to hospital visitation rights and the like. Kerry continued, "While I continue to oppose gay marriage, I believe that today's decision calls on the Massachusetts state legislature to take action to ensure equal protection for gay couples. These protections are long overdue." Dick Gephardt said, "I do not support gay marriage, but I hope the Massachusetts State Legislature will act in a manner that is consistent with today's Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruling." Joe Lieberman and John Edwards took no explicit position on the ruling, saying only that they oppose gay marriage but also oppose federal efforts to undo the ruling.

Opponents and supporters of gay marriage alike should be disgusted by these dodges. The court's decision plainly imposes a regime of gay marriage on Massachusetts. The court has said that the state constitution requires this change. The court graciously grants the state legislature some time--180 days--to alter state marriage law so that same-sex couples can get married. If the legislature does not make this alteration, however, the court will still order county clerks to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Dean implies that the court merely wants gay couples to have various benefits, and Kerry says that it merely wants them to have "protections." Actually, it wants them to have the right to marry. If the legislature is to "act in a manner that is consistent with" the ruling, as Gephardt urges, it will bless the very thing that he says he does not "support." The Democratic hopefuls do not want the public to see them as supporters of gay marriage, but they do not want liberals to see them as opponents of the Massachusetts decision either. But no honest middle ground exists. If you oppose gay marriage, then you cannot support, or even be neutral toward, the Massachusetts decision. That decision holds that the equal dignity of citizens requires gay marriage. If you do not oppose the decision, you do not really oppose gay marriage.

Actually, the difficulty for ...