Spencer Price

Times Columnist

"The story you are about to hear is true, the names have been changed to protect the innocent" - that sentence introduced every episode of the once popular detective series "Dragnet." Every time I heard that, I always wondered to myself if the story really was "true."

When I first heard the following story, I felt that same sense of skepticism. After doing a bit of research, I discovered that, in fact, the story was, unfortunately, true. I believe every American should stand up and take notice - this really happened right here in America.

A Nov. 6 article in the Denver Post describes a recently filed appeal of an April 28 child custody ruling in a case involving two lesbians and an 8-year-old girl. The child had originally been adopted by one of the lesbians, Cheryl Clark, a Denver physician. Clark ended her relationship with Elsey McLeod after converting to Christianity.

In his ruling, Denver District Judge John Coughlin was out of bounds, I believe, in awarding the two women joint custody of the child. Why? Because Clark was the adoptive mother and McLeod had no legal claim of rights to the child. This aspect of the ruling brings into question problems with gay-adoption - in particular, the issue of future relationships - will Clark be forced to share custody of her daughter with anyone that she may have a relationship with?

In a much more egregious abuse of his judicial authority, however, Judge Coughlin defied the U.S. Constitution by dictating to Clark how she was to raise her daughter with regard to religion. Clark, who believes homosexuality is in conflict with her Christian views, wants to raise her daughter as a Christian. Judge Coughlin, in effect, said she cannot do so. Quoting directly from his ruling, he stated that Clark must "make sure that there is nothing in the religious upbringing or teaching that the minor child is exposed to that can be considered homophobic."

Now, think about this for a minute - a judge in a court of law right here in the United States of America told a U.S. citizen that she could not raise her daughter as a Christian. There was a time when Americans would have gone to war over something like that - in fact, there was a time when Americans did go to war over something like that - the Revolutionary War. I wonder if Judge Coughlin ever heard of the First Amendment - you know, the one that says "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;" If Congress can't do it, what makes Coughlin think he can?

What Judge Coughlin did is obviously unconstitutional. The Colorado Court of Appeals is expected to hear arguments in early 2004. I pray the judges on that esteemed panel are more familiar with the U.S. Constitution and Americans' rights of religious freedom. I also hope that the appeals court issues a stern rebuke of Judge Coughlin's abuse of judicial authority. I consider him no less than a coward who has fallen under the spell of political correctness and liberal leftist extremism.

And where is the American Civil Liberties Union, the self-appointed defenders of the Bill of Rights? Why haven't we heard from them on this issue? Because this case poses for them a distinct dilemma - to defend freedom of religion in this case requires them to render an implicit statement against homosexuality. Not surprisingly, given a choice, liberal organizations would not hesitate to sacrifice freedom of religion in order to protect their pet causes, in this case, homosexuality.

The outcome of this case has far-reaching implications for all Americans as one of the very pillars of our way of life, freedom of religion, is under attack. In these so-called modern times, liberals seldom think twice about challenging our sacred freedoms. Something tells me that, back in the days when Americans were willing to fight and die for what they believed in, Judge Coughlin and members of the ACLU would have been much less inclined to trample on these freedoms. In those days, being out of bounds carried more severe penalties.

After reading about this case a few weeks ago, I thought about sending Judge Coughlin a copy of the First Amendment. On further consideration, I decided it would be a waste of time - afterall, even if he did read it, I doubt he'd understand it.

Spencer Price can be contacted via e-mail at spricemd@alltel.net. His column appears in each Wednesday edition of The Thomaston Times. "Please visit his website at conservativecommentaries.com"