The divorced Republican Governor of Oklahoma is railing against “unelected federal justices” and their “D.C. values” after the Supreme Court made its announcement on same-sex marriage today.
In 1998, Mary Fallin, then the Lt. Governor of Oklahoma, filed for divorce, just after her bodyguard resigned from the State Highway Patrol. Rumors claimed Fallin and her bodyguard were having an affair, and court documents, which Fallin denied, stated she was seen kissing him. Court documents, filed by her husband, also claimed that Fallin consulted a fortune teller or psychic.Â
Needless to say, it was a messy divorce, but Fallin would go on to serve the people of the Sooner State as a U.S. Congresswoman and then Governor of Oklahoma.
Fallin’s tenure as governor has not been with controversy either.
Recently, Fallin came under fire for the “botched” execution of Clayton Lockett which Fallin publicly supported. An article in Mother Jones says “Thanks to Gov. Mary Fallin, Clayton Lockett is now the poster child for the abolition of capital punishment.”
But as the governor of a religious and conservative state who’s running for re-election this year, Fallin took the opportunity today to remind Oklahoma’s LGBT community just how far she’s willing to throw them under the bus to win in November.
“The people of Oklahoma have the right to determine how marriage is defined,” Gov. Fallin said this afternoon in a statement on the Supreme Court’s decision to not hear a same-sex marriage case. “In 2004, Oklahomans exercised that right, voting by a margin of 3-1 to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman.”
Of course, in ten years, about 55 percent of the entire country has come to embrace same-sex marriage, but who’s counting?
“The will of the people,” Gov. Fallin continued, “has now been overridden by unelected federal justices, accountable to no one. That is both undemocratic and a violation of states’ rights. Rather than allowing states to make their own policies that reflect the values and views of their residents, federal judges have inserted themselves into a state issue to pursue their own agendas.”
Of course, our democracy is a representative democracy, a republic that includes three branches of a federal government that includes a judiciary. The Founding Fathers created the Supreme Court, inlaying lifetime appointments, specifically so the justices were “accountable to no one,” so they could interpret the law as they see fit.
“Today’s decision has been cast by the media as a victory for gay rights. What has been ignored, however, is the right of Oklahomans and Americans in every state, to write their own laws and govern themselves as they see fit. Those rights have once again been trampled by an arrogant, out-of-control federal government that wants to substitute Oklahoma values with Washington, D.C. values.”
What, exactly, are “Oklahoma values,” and how do they differ from one of the most conservative Supreme Courts in modern history?
And how does a divorced politician who was a “D.C.” lawmaker herself, and who raised a daughter who has reportedly been divorced twice — in the same year — merit preaching about the sanctity of marriage in a democracy that is supposed to support the separation of church and state?
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Related At The New Civil Rights Movement:
What Did The National Organization For Marriage Say About Today’s Supreme Court Announcement?
Long View: Why SCOTUS’ Same-Sex Marriage Decision Was Only Proper Option
The Same-Sex Marriage Map Just Changed Dramatically – Here’s What It Looks Like