With her honorable action to decline to represent the Commonwealth in the lawsuit filed against it in an effort to overturn the Defense of Marriage Act, Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane has thrown a scalding potato to Governor Tom Corbett, which is likely to end badly for him.
Mr. Corbett will now be the individual on the front line, the face of the movement to deny honorable gay men and women the same rights afforded heterosexual married couples. Governor Corbett's opposition to gay unions mirrors that of many other men in their 60's. His stance will endear him to the Daryl Metcalfe types, those who believe that gay members of the General Assembly do not deserve to speak, but it is not in step with rapidly evolving contemporary opinion and will likely cause him to lose standing with many Pennsylvanians, including Republican/Libertarian individuals like me, that are socially liberal and do not believe in discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
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At a time that he is seeking to bolster his sagging approval ratings in advance of a re-election campaign, being thrust into the middle of a controversial hot button social issue is precisely what the governor does not need. Like it or not, it is now in his lap courtesy of Attorney General Kane, a woman of principle that believes in constitutional tenets. I believe that her interpretation of the Constitution will prevail when the dust settles.
