Author, columnist, speaker

Christmas Queens and Marriage
Rebelling against nature and nature's God.

By Robert Knight

We’ve had a very serious setback this past week in the cause of freedom, courtesy of a dozen “woke” Republican senators.

But first, we’ll begin with a bit of pop culture that speaks to where we are as a nation. Sad to say, Mariah Carey won’t be able to trademark “Queen of Christmas.” Yes, in time, we will get over this.

The ubiquitous songbird, whose “All I Want for Christmas Is You” is piped everywhere, tried to monopolize the title legally. She wanted to use “Queen of Christmas” and even “QOC” on a wide range of products, from skin care to dog leashes.

Alas, Ms. Carey’s plan was foiled when fellow singer Elizabeth Chan, who focuses exclusively on Christmas, objected to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Those grinches told Ms. Carey last Tuesday that she couldn’t be the only Queen of Christmas. Somewhere, Lucy Van Pelt of Peanuts fame, who identifies as the Christmas Queen, is probably celebrating Ms. Chan’s victory.

Since we live in an age of excess and gender confusion, Ms. Chan’s attorney, Louis W. Tompros, exuberantly declared that the “‘Queen of Christmas’ on radio stations can be a new person every year. Man or woman, whatever they want, anyone is the ‘Queen of Christmas.’”

Anyone? How about the late Jimmy Durante, who memorably voiced “Frosty the Snowman?” Or Bing Crosby, Nat King Cole or Andy Williams?

Making a man “Queen of Christmas” doesn’t even raise eyebrows anymore in a culture that is in full rebellion against nature and nature’s God. It’s why we saw a U.S. Senate vote this past week that would have been unthinkable even a few years ago.

The Democrat-dominated chamber, aided by 12 Republicans led by Utah’s Mitt Romney, voted Wednesday to end debate on the oxymoronically named Respect for Marriage Act (H.R. 8404). The bill, which overturns the federal Defense of Marriage Act and codifies the Obergefell v. Hodges ruling, had already passed the House with 47 “woke” Republicans voting yes.

Majority Leader Chuck Schumer permitted little debate or discussion before the vote but allowed a fake religious “exemption.” It apparently fooled leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, which inexplicably endorsed the bill.

Mormons bankrolled campaigns to protect man-woman marriage but have now joined the cultural wrecking crew. The selling point is that nonprofit institutions (read: churches) can opt out of “solemnization or celebration” of same-sex nuptials. That’s it.

So, for now, your pastor, priest or rabbi won’t go to jail for declining to officiate a marriage made in Sodom. But they had better not talk about what the Bible teaches. And what about people who hold traditional but non-faith-based views of marriage?

Under this profoundly misleading and dangerous bill, the government can bring the full weight of the civil rights enforcement apparatus down on people merely for supporting man-woman marriage or failing to support same-sex unions.

The Attorney General will be empowered to “bring a civil action in the appropriate United States district court against any person who violates subsection (a) for declaratory and injunctive relief."

All that Merrick Garland’s goons will need is a complaint from an offended LGBTQ complainant. This will immediately imperil Christian schools, and anyone with a business related to weddings. We’ve already seen legal attacks on cake bakers, photographers and florists.

An army of ACLU lawyers will be unleashed to harass hapless people who thought they lived in a free country. No wonder Mr. Schumer wanted it rushed through without examination.

The bill has to go to the floor for final passage and then back to the House for a final vote. Senators need to be educated that this is not about love, compassion, tolerance or defeating “hate.” It’s a blunt instrument for totalitarian control over people of faith.

All human beings are created in God’s image and human life is sacred. Everyone should be treated with respect and compassion. But this isn’t the same as forcing people to bless and promote all behaviors or lie about what they know to be true.

As part of the deception, the bill also bars discrimination against mixed-race marriages, a non-issue since the Supreme Court’s Loving v. Virginia ruling in 1967. By wrapping the same-sex marriage claim around the legitimate takedown of miscegenation laws, the bill hijacks the moral capital of the civil rights movement.

In addition to Mr. Romney, Republicans voting to advance the bill were: Susan Collins of Maine, Rob Portman of Ohio, Thom Tillis and Richard Burr of North Carolina, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Roy Blunt of Missouri, Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, Dan Sullivan of Alaska, Todd Young of Indiana and Joni Ernst of Iowa.

How many North Carolinians will be happy when they figure out that their two Republican senators are helping to set in motion a persecution machine aimed at them?

How about in deeply conservative West Virginia?

I can’t help but think that if the “red wave” had actually materialized on Nov. 8, that some of these Republicans would have thought twice before helping Democrats pull in this Trojan horse.  

Robert Knight is a columnist for The Washington Times. His new book “Crooked: What Really Happened in the 2020 Election and How to Stop the Fraud” (D. James Kennedy Ministries, September 2022) is available at his website roberthknight.com and at djkm.org/crooked. 

Illustration by Alexander Hunter / The Washington Times.