Politics

Lengel: Would Snyder and Schuette Have Opposed Separate Drinking Fountains?

November 25, 2014, 7:16 AM by  Allan Lengel

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A question I've occasional asked myself in the past several months is this: If this was 1960 in Mississippi, and Rick Snyder was governor there and Bill Schuette, attorney general, would they stand up against discrimination such as separate drinking fountains and segregated restaurants?

And each time I find myself saying "Absolutely not."

I say this because I've seen the way both have reacted to same sex-marriage, an issue that should no longer be seen as a conservative-liberal one, gay or straight, but rather a matter of human rights. 

During a campaign debate, Snyder was asked his stand on same-sex marriage. Obviously, not wanting to offend the conservative base of the party, he wimped out and said he said he would respect the decisions of the courts. When pressed about his personal view on it, again he reiterated that he would defer to the courts.

I can only imagine if he were asked about separate drinking fountains as governor of Mississippi in 1960.  Not wanting to offend racist voters in Mississippi, he would have likely said the same thing about deferring to the courts.

Ditto for Bill Schuette.

On Monday, Schuette's office filed a 32-page brief with the U.S. Supreme Court, asking that it uphold the voters' ban on same-sex marriage in Michigan. The 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati recently upheld the voters ban that was passed in 2004. 

"This case comes down to two words: who decides," Schuette wrote in his filing, according to the Detroit Free Press.

Schuette, too, is hiding behind the courts, pretending this is a legal issue and all about choice, rather than a moral one. Voters shouldn't have the right to take away civil rights.

Schuette and Snyder need to come on out of the court's closet, and admit that they're either bigots or fearful of offending the conservative base.

Which is it, guys? 



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