Megyn Kelly To Maggie Gallagher: How Is Prop 8 Different From A Ban On Interracial Marriage?

Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly challenged Maggie Gallagher, co-founder of the National Organization for Marriage (NOM), over her claim that courts should avoid making controversial decisions about marriage, pointing out that the Supreme Court had previously struck down unjust laws against interracial marriage.

During the March 26 edition of Fox's America Live, Kelly invited Gallagher and former Equality Matters president Richard Socarides on to discuss the Supreme Court's consideration of the constitutionality of California's Proposition 8. When Gallagher asserted that the Court shouldn't override the democratic process when it comes to marriage, Kelly responded by citing that the Supreme Court similarly intervened to invalidate state laws against interracial marriage:

GALLAGHER: For the Supreme Court to brand this view as irrational bigotry akin to racial discrimination would not end the culture wars, it would entrench them, and it would take away something very precious, which is the right of seven million Californians to use the democratic process to make our case to the American people. And so, I certainly think trying that to persuade the American people that the Constitution drafted by our Founding Fathers in 1789 has always required gay marriage is a long stretch and I'm hopeful that the Supreme Court will uphold Prop 8.

KELLY: But before I get back to Richard on that, there was a time in this country in which interracial marriage was not lawful. And the Supreme Court had to step in and say “that's wrong. Under the U.S. Constitution, under the Equal Protection clause, whites can marry blacks and states are not free to tell them otherwise.” And those that advocate on behalf of this issue, Maggie, they say this is another, sort of, iteration of that.

Kelly has highlighted the country's history of marriage discrimination while discussing the issue of marriage equality before. Last August, she made a compelling argument for marriage equality during a debate with Pastor Robert Jeffress about Chick-fil-A's support for anti-gay organizations:

KELLY: This country has a long history of discrimination against certain groups. Eventually we wind up getting it right. Right? Against women, against blacks, the civil rights movement and so on. And in justifying that discrimination when it was in place, some folks turn to the Bible and turn to their religious beliefs and said we have to have slavery because it's in the Bible. Women have to be second-class citizens because that's in the Bible. Blacks and whites can't get married because that's in the Bible. That wound up in a case. A judge wrote that in an opinion, which the Supreme Court ultimately struck that down, saying that's not right, judge - the Equal Protection clause says you can't do that. Why is gay marriage any different?