David Koch of the oft-maligned-by-progressives billionaire siblings known colloquially as the Koch brothers has signed on to a brief urging the Supreme Court to overturn state-level bans on gay marriage under the rationale that such bans now violate the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution, especially in light of the fact that some states now license gay marriages while others do not. The brief has been filed on behalf of the upcoming Supreme Court case DeBoer v. Snyder, in which a lesbian couple is suing for the right to marry in an effort to meet Michigan’s legal requirement to adopt children.
The Washington Free Beacon is reporting that David Koch has, according to Koch Industries attorney Mark Holden, made a personal decision to sign his name onto the brief. During an interview on the 2012 presidential election, Politico quoted David Koch as saying, “I believe in gay marriage.”
However, Koch is not the only right-leaning figure signing on to the brief. The Washington Post is reporting that a wide range of conservative celebrities have offered their signatures as well, including General Stanley McChrystal, conservative commentator S.E. Cupp, ex Republican National Committee chairman Ken Mehlman, former Wyoming Republican Senator Alan Simpson, and senior advisers to the 2012 Mitt Romney presidential campaign, among others.
The conservatives behind the brief offered a pro-family argument as to why they support gay marriage, writing that they “have concluded that marriage is strengthened, and its value to society and to individual families and couples is promoted, by providing access to civil marriage for all American couples — heterosexual or gay or lesbian alike. In particular, civil marriage provides stability for the children of same-sex couples, the value of which cannot be overestimated. In light of these conclusions, amici believe that the Fourteenth Amendment prohibits States from denying same-sex couples the legal rights and responsibilities that flow from the institution of civil marriage.”
On January 16, 2015, the Supreme Court decided that it would review DeBoer v. Snyder along with three other similar cases. The questions at issue in the cases are whether the Fourteenth Amendment requires states to license gay marriages and whether it requires states to recognize gay marriages licensed in other states.