It was interesting to read this article in the NYT discussing what’s going on outside the California court where Prop 8 is under review. Why interesting? Because the messages of the proposition’s supporters put the lie to the idea that they are anything other than disingenuous and/or bigoted. Let’s explore.
There are two arguments against gay marriage; one proceeds from faulty assumptions and the other through faulty logic.
The first is the plainly bigoted argument that, as was so eloquently stated by one the supporters in the article, “gay = pervert”. It has other variations that involve terms like “disease”, “lifestyle”, and “pedophile”. Congratulations, sirs, on the high degrees of enlightenment you have attained in AD 2009. In their defense, at least these people are being honest, even if they’re on the wrong side of history. And let’s note that this argument, not the next one, appears to be the primary case on display in California today.
The second is more interesting, and goes like this. Gay people are fine, but allowing them to marry undermines the sanctity of straight marriage, which is not good because straight marriages do a nice job of undermining themselves, thank you very much. This is some crazy logic – what possible effect can the existence of a gay marriage have on a straight marriage? No one is banning straight marriages! You can still have them, 5, 6, 7 times in a life if you want to. Good grief, there have been gay marriages in a number of states and countries for years now, and are the straight marriages less for it? In the face of this, we get to the highly sophisticated final line of defense that “marriage is between a man and a woman”.
Oh dear. This argument has much in common with George Michael’s butt on the SNL skit, in that not only is it a perfect circle, it’s also full of shit.
My assumption is that the people who trot this one out, if they really looked at it, would realize that they are simply bigots who lack the courage to admit it.
Fortunately, I suspect the courts will find that Prop 8 requires more than a simple majority to vote to remove the rights of a minority.
