I am not usually one to ban any particular discussion or sentiment from being raised here, but, I swear, if anyone hoists the following canard up, I will smack them about the head and shoulders with a wet newspaper:<\/p>\n
Current law on marriage does not discriminate against gay people. After all, they can still marry, and, under the law, they are eligible to marry just whom everyone else is: someone of the opposite gender<\/b>. Since they have the same rights as everyone else, there is not discrimination, let alone bias or prejudice, involved.<\/p>\n
This one strikes me as so jaw-droppingly insulting — both to the intelligence of the listener and to the sensibilities of gay people — that it defies belief. Consider it one of my hot-buttons, because whenever I hear it, I see red.<\/p>\n
Much has been argued over the parallels between the racial civil rights movement of the 50s-60s and the orientation civil rights movement of today. While analogies can be suspect, I think the similarities tend to outweigh the differences. So, for example, let us consider miscegenation laws, which are closest to current anti-gay marriage laws. Consider someone from Alabama c. 1936 saying the following:<\/p>\n
Current law on marriage does not discriminate against people of color. After all, they can still marry, and, under the law, they are eligible to marry just whom everyone else is: someone of the same race<\/b>. Since they have the same rights as everyone else, there is not discrimination, let alone bias or prejudice, involved.<\/p>\n
But that’s completely unreasonable,<\/i> one might exclaim. What harm does it do for a black and a white person to marry? Why should a black person who wishes to marry a white person — or a white person who wishes to marry a black — be so restricted? Saying that a white person can marry whomever they want, as long as it’s white — is like saying someone can proclaim whatever political speech they want, so long as it’s pro-government. Or that they can go to whatever church they want, so long as it’s the one they grew up in. Or that someone of Italian heritage can marry whomever they want, so long as it’s another person of Italian heritage. It’s absurd, and insulting.<\/i><\/p>\n
Exactly. And I believe that the same applies to to the same argument when framed in terms of gay marriage.<\/p>\n
There are plenty of other arguments I’ve heard against gay marriage. I disagree with most, if not all of them, but at least they bear discussion. This particular one, however, seems so completely missing of the point that it simply boggles the mind.<\/p>\n
So don’t, okay? Because seeing red and\/or being mind-boggled is not something I need these days.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I am not usually one to ban any particular discussion or sentiment from being raised here, but, I swear, if anyone hoists the following canard up, I will smack them…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[718,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5514","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-marriage-equality","category-zt-pc"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":31258,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/11\/07\/victories-for-gay-rights-nationwide.html","url_meta":{"origin":5514,"position":0},"title":"Victories for Gay Rights nationwide","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 7-Nov-12 7:41am","format":false,"excerpt":"It will be interesting, fifty years from now or so, to chart how quickly things turned around on matters of gay rights, gay marriage, etc., in the US. \u00a0Assuming last night was not a blip (which I don't think it was), it was remarkable (and heartening) to see voters voting\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13595,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2008\/11\/06\/fighting_proposition_8.html","url_meta":{"origin":5514,"position":1},"title":"Fighting Proposition 8","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 6-Nov-08 3:41pm","format":false,"excerpt":"The battle against Prop. 8, which amended the California Constitution to ban gay marriage, is not over. 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Caught your official National Organization for Marriage (NOM) press release yesterday, which \"Criticizes President's Decision to Divide Nation Over Marriage on Inauguration Day.\" \u00a0So ... can we talk? Washington, D.C.\u00a0\u2014 Brian Brown, President of the National Organization for Marriage (NOM), criticized President Obama\u2019s decision to use his Inauguration\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Dolts"","block_context":{"text":"Dolts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/dolts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/did-we-vote-on-your-marriage.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":51633,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/06\/28\/another-positive-christian-response-to-the-marriage-equality-ruling.html","url_meta":{"origin":5514,"position":5},"title":"Another positive Christian response to the marriage equality ruling","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 28-Jun-15 10:18am","format":false,"excerpt":"Drawing the distinction between civil rights and personal religious beliefs. One of the more disquieting aspects of the discussion around marriage equality has been people (on both sides) framing it as \"gays\" vs \"Christians\". Quite a few gay people are Christian. Quite a few Christians support marriage equality. 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