Couple of interesting things this morning on how the right is trying to worm out from under the "anti-gay" label. First, from Josh Marshall:
It's called the free marketplace of ideas: you put your ideas out there, and they either sink or swim. Sometimes they swim for awhile before they start to sink. What's new and exciting in this is the idea that if people criticize your ideas, you're being persecuted.
A nice footnote on this one comes via Pink News:
Like the United States, an overwhelming majority of those in England profess Christianity in some form. But they feel persecuted. I think Marshall has the right take on it:
And from Think Progress, this one:
His Church is the one who claims that we are "intrinsically morally disordered." And Cordileone himself said that
But he really loves us poor, intrinsically disordered beings with our second-rate relationships. (And have you noticed how with "Christians," it always comes back to sex?) Read the whole article -- it's pretty illuminating in the contrast between what they say for general consumption and what they preach to the choir.
They just don't get it, do they?
One of the folks we’re talking about just asked me on Twitter, in so many words, What happened to free speech? Now if you don’t agree with gay marriage you’re in trouble? Obviously we all have free speech. But what people usually want with free speech is the ability to speak their mind and not have people think worse of them for it. And on gay rights if not quite yet on full marriage equality, these folks sense they may be losing that right.
It's called the free marketplace of ideas: you put your ideas out there, and they either sink or swim. Sometimes they swim for awhile before they start to sink. What's new and exciting in this is the idea that if people criticize your ideas, you're being persecuted.
A nice footnote on this one comes via Pink News:
The former Archbishop cited a ComRes Poll released yesterday, which revealed two thirds of Christians now believe they are a “persecuted minority”. The poll was commissioned by the Coalition for Marriage, the group that Lord Carey helped to launch to campaign against marriage equality.
He acknowledged that while “few in the UK are actually persecuted”, he felt that David Cameron had “done more than any other recent political leader to feed these anxieties”.
Like the United States, an overwhelming majority of those in England profess Christianity in some form. But they feel persecuted. I think Marshall has the right take on it:
Or, to put it more bluntly, they say they’re losing their right to calls gays gross and weird.
And from Think Progress, this one:
Conservatives have long claimed that they’re somehow the victim of persecution when they’re called bigots for opposing same-sex marriage, like when Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) said at CPAC, “Just because I believe states should have the right to define marriage in a traditional way does not make me a bigot.” But conservatives are adding a novel layer to this trite argument, claiming they actually very much support gay people.
San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, who recently said that gay couples can never achieve the same intimacy as straight couples, opened Tuesday’s anti-gay Marriage March rally on the National Mall with the following plea:
CORDILEONE: I want to begin with a word to those who disagree with us on this issue and may be watching us right now: we love you, we are your neighbors, and we want to be your friends, and we want you to be happy.
Please understand that we don’t hate you, and that we are not motivated by animus or bigotry; it is not our intention to offend anyone, and if we have, I apologize; please try to listen to us fairly, and calmly, and try to understand us and our position, as we will try to do the same for you.
His Church is the one who claims that we are "intrinsically morally disordered." And Cordileone himself said that
Two men and two women can certainly have a close loving committed emotional relationship, but they can never ever join as one flesh in the unique way a husband and wife do. [...]
But he really loves us poor, intrinsically disordered beings with our second-rate relationships. (And have you noticed how with "Christians," it always comes back to sex?) Read the whole article -- it's pretty illuminating in the contrast between what they say for general consumption and what they preach to the choir.
They just don't get it, do they?
2 comments:
I may or may not get around to writing a blog post about this - but have you noticed that whereas up until just recently, the rightwingers used to say "they deserve no rights because they are bad, they're diseased, they're criminals, mentally ill, perverted," etc., etc.
But suddenly now, they aren't saying those things anymore. Cordileone says "we love you love you, want you to be happy" and Abp Dolan yesterday said we "are entitled to friendship" and his church should make more clear they aren't actually hating on the gays.
BIG change of tone and diction, eh?
Though of course they are still fighting tooth and nail against us, but somehow it's as if even they realize the old slurs just won't work anymore, not with the general public.
But you're right - their polite, finely turned arguments, Catholic or otherwise, all boil down to a penis ejaculating inside a vagina. Which nobody is trying to forbid, and which will still go on!
People are going to start laughing out loud at this kind of silliness pretty soon, don't you think?
The only change is in tone and diction. The message is still the same, and since it's foundational to these groups' existence, they're screwed. The Church, in particular, is going to have an increasing PR problem: if your whole doctrine of human sexuality is based on the idea that there's only one legitimate outlet -- heterosexual conjugal sex (preferably in the missionary position, so the woman doesn't forget who's boss), you're going to have a problem trying to shake the anti-gay label.
Post a Comment