Box Turtle Bulletin
News and commentary about the anti-gay lobby“Now you must raise your children up in a world where that union of man and box turtle is on the same legal footing as man and wife…”
News and commentary about the anti-gay lobbySeptember 29th, 2008
Writing in the Ventura Star, Republican columnist Scott Harris raises what I think is a most convincing argument as to why a voter should oppose Proposition 8 (and other anti-gay marriage amendments). Among his list of eight reasons, he provides
It is easy to say that I would have supported interracial marriage if I were old enough to have lived through the then-controversy. In years to come, when the same-sex issue has faded to all but historical irrelevance, I want to be able to tell my grandchildren that I was there, publicly supporting those who needed the support. It will be the best way to know that if I had been in Birmingham in the ’60s, I would have stood on the right side of the hoses.
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David
September 29th, 2008
A “most convincing argument”?
This argument by Scott Harris impresses me as one of the most stupid reasons one could possibly give for supporting gay marriage.
The numerous objections raised against gay marriages bare little resemblance to the old bugaboo about miscegenation.
Besides, worrying about how you would have acted in a controversy that was before your time is a silly reason for supporting or opposing anything.
Garrett
September 30th, 2008
He’s supporting a good thing. Beggars can’t be choosers David…
Timothy Kincaid
September 30th, 2008
Odd, I find that a very convincing argument.
I wonder, at times, if I were an adult during the civil rights era, would I have been fooled by an appeal to bigotry which was disguized as an appeal to tradition and propriety? Many decent people were and now deeply regret the racism that they supported either directly or out of apathy.
I think that this situation is a very close mirror. The players are different but the needs, the arguments, and base motivations are quite like those of just a few decades ago. Or really much of history – those excluded seeking equality and those holding privileges seeking to keep their entitlement.
This argument might not appeal to David. And I’m sure he has his own reasons for why he finds the argument so troubling.
But I do know that there are a great many people who genuinely wish that they would have come down on the “right side” of previous injustices had they lived at that time and an appeal to that instinct is, I believe, quite powerful. And this appeal is, I believe, particularly compelling to those who are further towards the conservative side of the political spectrum. We need their votes as well.
David
September 30th, 2008
Tim,
I thought I expressed my objections to the argument very clearly.
Garrett,
I don’t get your comment at all.
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