The Gay Marriage Debate in America
I've rewritten my piece for a predominantly American audience. I'm most interested in all intelligent comments, whether you agree or disagree.
The ongoing gay marriage debate is a perfect example of the tactics used by elites on the Left to change society into their vision of nirvana. The majority of citizens have quite the opposite view of but feel powerless to stop it. The neverending drive toward this nirvana is powered by what Mark Steyn calls the "Drip, Drip, Drip" of slow, incremental, but relentless change.
For the record, I've long felt that:
- Gay couples should have the same financial benefits as heterosexual couples
- Gay marriage is a minor issue for me, personally
- I am not homophobic
- I do not hate gay people
- If given the chance to vote on it, I would vote 'No'
- My reasons do not stem from religion
Canada provides an interesting preview of what will likely transpire in America. Gay marriage became legal across Canada on July 20, 2005, via a vote in the federal House of Commons. Prior to this, hundreds of thousands of letters were sent by concerned citizens, beseeching their Members of Parliament to vote 'No'. But they were ignored and the Gay Marriage bill became law.
Now in 2009, the same thing is happening in America. Polls contantly show that the majority of citizens do not support the concept of gay marriage. In fact, even in the very liberal state of California, an actual referendum echoed the same opposition. Is it correct to infer that most Americans are thus misguided ignoramuses, homophobes, and/or religious zealots? Anyone who believes this truly needs to seek the help of a psychologist to cure themselves of such narcicissm.
So, realizing that there's immense opposition to their views, do Left elites give up? Of course not! In their minds, not only are they right on this issue, they're also on a righteous crusade! In point of fact, on every issue the elites on the Left believe their views are both righteous and superior to everyone else's.
So to effect the change they desire, they ridicule and mock anyone who has the "audacity" and "stupidity" to publicly state that marriage laws should not be changed. This is done on news shows, on entertainment shows, in newspaper & magazine articles, in the political & legal arenas, and even at beauty pageants! The messages are three-fold:
- We will publicly label you a bigot if you dare to disagree with us.
- The scarlet letter on your forehead will be an "R", because we will loudly make the case that you are the modern-day equivalent of a Racist.
- We and our like-minded comrades have control of most of the media outlets in the country and you do not.
What then happens? Any meaningful debate is silenced; not just a little but absolutely. Average people, knowing that there's nothing to be gained from expressing their opinions out loud and so much to lose, shut their mouths and get on with their lives.
Also - and this is key to the Left's success on every issue - because such changes do not directly & immediately affect the lives of most people, what's to be gained by expending a lot of energy fighting any such issue? Most people then, make what appears to be the best decision at the time and get on with their lives, working hard and paying their taxes. Ironically, these tax dollars then contribute to the next social change down the road which these same taxpayers also disagree with! On & on it goes, like a snowball rolling down a hill.
What's the problem then? Simply this: In the long term, are these incremental changes healthy for our society? I don't particularly want to get slammed for my thoughts about whether there's a causality between promotion of gay marriage and a longterm reduction in [very necessary] population replenishment, but I suspect it may very well be the case.
After opposition to gay marriage is silenced, what do you think will be next? I predict that by no later than 2020, polygamy will be fully legal in Canada; soon after that in the U.S. Based on historical evidence, this will often mean 50+ year old men with multiple teenage wives. Is that a healthy thing for our society?
After the opposition to polygamy is silenced, what do you think will be next? I have several suspicions but will leave it to your imagination to speculate on a few.
Final thoughts:
- Do liberal democratic societies like ours have a built in self-destruction mechanism?
- More precisely, if more & more "rights" are assigned to everyone, will that eventually cripple our society?
Labels:
gay marriage,
liberal elites,
secular left
7 comments:
Shortly after gay marriage was defeated here in California I was at a park and a woman walked by me with a T-Shirt that proclaimed in bold letters something to the effect of "STOP THE H8 : No on 8".
In California the vote yes on 8 was to instill marriage as only between a man and woman so a "NO" vote would then allow gay marriage to become law.
I told this woman that her shirt was offensive to me as it clearly stated any vote against gay marriage was based on HATE and that premise was patently false.
She told me it was clearly based on hate against gays. I told her that recently Elton John came out against gay marriage. Was he a hater too?
She had no response.
Good on you to politely express your thoughts to that woman. Her response was a textbook example of a small-minded person who clearly had not thought through the issue beyond the superficial talking points.
You are right on about the slippery slope and drip, drip, drip. They want to turn traditionalism on it's head and go against everything their parents believed. It's like they are still children but the scary part is that they do have so much power.
It will all come crashing down eventually but how bad will it get before it does and what will happen when it does? No society has lasted much longer once homosexuality became openly accepted -i.e. ROME- and NO society of note, out side of the modern era, has ever allowed gay marriage.
I personally don't have any problem "accepting" gays. I know several people who are gay and have worked with a few. My sense is that they were just born that way.
My focus is more on, "Does anything really have any REAL meaning anymore?" The "M"-word (marriage) is a sacred one for me, not in a religious sense but an historical and societal one. No one on the Left has ever explained to me why Civil Unions are not sufficient ceremonies for homosexuals.
Although I have a moral and religous conviction that a gay lifestyle is wrong I have no hatred toward gays. My values instilled by my mother also taught me that heterosexuals living together before marriage is wrong (not good for people or society). I do not hate heterosexuals who live together.
My favorite boss was gay but just a terrific guy and principled in all other ways. I have 2 gay neighbors who are great friends our our family. I don't understand why some people appear to be born "that way" but that does not make me accept that one should not fight the urge to practice it.
Heterosexuals are born to want the opposite sex. Now that I am married that urge did not stop. But I decided as a moral person to never cheat on my wife. I would never act on those desires.
Sorry to run on but it is a fascinating subject.
Brett,
Thank you for relating those personal stories. It's nice to receive comments on here that aren't purely hate once in a while!
By the way, perhaps it's because I'm listening to too much of Dennis Miller's humour these days, but when you said, "Heterosexuals are born to want the opposite sex. Now that I am married that urge did not stop", my mind immediately went another way on it! A comedian might come back with, "Yeah, years & years of sex with the same woman would make any guy want to turn gay!"
Anyhow, sincerely, thank you again for commenting on what I wrote.
Ha! That's a great quote from Miller. He's one of a kind.
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