MSNBC's Hayes Celebrates 'Sweet, Sweet Victory' of Gay Marriage Ruling
On Wednesday's All In show on MSNBC, host Chris Hayes opened the program rejoicing over the "sweet, sweet victory" of the Supreme Court ruling against the federal Defense of Marriage Act, calling it a "watershed moment in the centuries-long struggle for equality in this country."
After playing clips of news coverage of the ruling, Hayes declared:
Today, the Supreme Court opened up same-sex marriage once again in California, the most populated state in the country, and ruled that any couple that is legally married in their state, in these United States, is married before the eyes of the federal government. This is a watershed moment in the centuries-long struggle for equality in this country. It is a sweet, sweet victory, and it is important in this life to savor those.
The MSNBC host then brought aboard columnist and gay rights activist Dan Savage, known for trying to spread the flu to a GOP presidential candidate headquarters in 2000, and with aggressively trying to slander former Senator Rick Santorum for his criticism of homosexuality.
After Hayes read a quote from Justice Antonin Scalia's dissenting opinion, asking the liberal columnist to respond, Savage began:
I don't want to swear on this program. It will get you in trouble. But my response is basically a string of profanities. And he's carrying water there and aping the, you know, the National Organization for Marriage line, the Family Research Council line, that you either can support traditional marriage or you support gay marriage.
Below is a transcript of the relevant portion of the Wednesday, June 26, All In with Chris Hayes on MSNBC:
CHRIS HAYES: But we begin with the monumental news that was delivered to us this morning by the Supreme Court of the United States.
(...)
HAYES: Today, the Supreme Court opened up same-sex marriage once again in California, the most populated state in the country, and ruled that any couple that is legally married in their state, in these United States, is married before the eyes of the federal government. This is a watershed moment in the centuries-long struggle for equality in this country. It is a sweet, sweet victory, and it is important in this life to savor those.
(...)
HAYES: I want to read below some of Justice Scalia's dissent in this case. It was a 5-4 decision. The majority decision authored by Kennedy with the four liberals in the court, four conservative in the court in dissent on the DOMA case. And this is Justice Scalia writing for those four: "To defend traditional marriage is not to condemn, demean or humiliate those who would prefer other arrangements, any more than to defend the Constitution of the United States is to condemn, demean, or humiliate other constitutions. To hurl such accusations so casually demeans this institution."
I'm not reading you the part of the dissent in which he literally said argo, bargle. What is your response to the Justice Scalia dissent which was quite, quite impassioned and angry.
SAVAGE: I don't want to swear on this program. It will get you in trouble.
HAYES: Please don't.
SAVAGE: But my response is basically a string of profanities. And he's carrying water there and aping the, you know, the National Organization for Marriage line, the Family Research Council line, that you either can support traditional marriage or you support gay marriage.
I'm a huge supporter of traditional marriage. My father happens to be in a traditional marriage as does my brother, as is my sister. Our neighbors who we love very much and are very close to are all traditionally married heterosexuals. And Terry and I are big supporters of their relationships and their marriages, and they`re all big supporters of us and our relationship and our marriage.
It isn't, and, you know, you can love traditional marriage for people who are heterosexual and you can love gay marriage for your friends and neighbors and colleagues who are gay, lesbian or bisexual. It's not the either/or that Scalia would have you believe that it is or that NOM would have you believe that it is.
HAYES: I have to say, Dan, that my straight marriage today feels incredibly undefended. It's just naked and vulnerable out there in the world. Syndicated columnist Dan Savage, thank you so much.
-- Brad Wilmouth is a news analyst at the Media Research Center
