Targeting Target
by William Kilpatrick, Crisis Magazine:
It would be instructive to look at the current LGBTQ+ controversies in the light of the famous Scopes Trial.
The CEO of Target recently received a letter from seven state attorneys general warning that Target’s June “Pride” campaign may have violated state laws concerning child protection, parental rights, and obscenity.
At about the same time, the Michigan House of Representatives passed a “hate speech” bill criminalizing criticism of transgender ideology. It looks as though the stage is being set for a major legal clash over the LGBTQ+ movement and its effect on society.
Should, say, the Target matter come before a court (or courts), it will probably attract much attention. Interested parties will submit amicus curiae briefs, and defense lawyers will argue that the briefs sold by Target are really not that brief.
Such a trial might also have the effect of focusing the public’s attention on one of the great unresolved issues of Constitutional law. The issue can be framed as follows: are laws merely arbitrary or are they rooted in some objective reality?
Up until fairly recently, God’s commandments were the ultimate reality backing up the laws against lying, theft, rape, and murder. It was taken for granted in Western courts that our laws were rooted in the Judeo-Christian revelation—or, alternatively, in the natural law which God has implanted in human nature.
As societies became more secularized, however, so did the lawmakers. Increasingly, arguments based on religious beliefs and/or natural law came to be seen as out of place in courts and legislatures. Gradually, reason and science were given priority as the basis for making moral judgments.
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