Would Edmund Burke have supported gay marriage? Andrew Sullivan thought so. Making what the New Republic called “a (conservative) case” for same-sex unions in 1989, Sullivan described them not as “a denial of family values” but rather “an extension of them.” Hence, in his view, the 18th-century British conservative thinker and statesman who, among other things, critiqued the French Revolution “could have written a powerful case” for gay marriage.
Leave Burke aside for the moment, save to observe that Sullivan’s approach in invoking him was novel at a time when even like-minded activists preferred radicalism. Its widespread adoption undoubtedly played some role in the shift of public opinion that culminated in the Supreme Court’s decision in Obergefell v. Hodges on June 26, 2015, to legalize it. “The Constitution promises liberty to all within its reach, a liberty that includes certain specific rights that allow persons, within a lawful realm, to define and express their identity,” former Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote for the majority.
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