For Gay Marriage, Against Some Gay Marriage Proponents
I’m on record as being conflicted over the issue of gay marriage. However, since the issue is most likely to be staring me in the face at the ballot box this November, it’s time to shit or get off the pot as they say.
I will vote for gay marriage in November.
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I believe in limited government, and that the state should have no power to prohibit two consenting adults to from entering into a union called marriage. Either you have equality under the law or you don’t.
That said, I do understand and sympathize to a degree with the arguments of gay marriage opponents, especially those made from a religious standpoint. Marriage is a fundamental building block of society and opponents have every right to be skeptical. I fully admit I may be wrong, but in the end I do not believe gay marriage will doom our state, or the republic. When in doubt, I’m going to err on the side of liberty.
As we saw in the legislative debates these last two weeks, gay marriage is a heated and emotional issue for both sides, and it will become more so as the debate plays out in a public campaign. For the most part the debate has been civil and respectful. However, there are gay marriage proponents—looking at you David Moon—who slander gay marriage opponents as bigots and purveyors of hate. He claims to know that the intent behind all gay marriage opponents is hate, especially people of faith. That is, opponents of gay marriage are using faith as an excuse for bigotry.
Now, Moon will ask how does gay marriage affect an opponent’s faith? The answer is that gay marriage affects one’s faith, if their faith tells them that marriage is between one man and one woman. That may seem like a tautology, but faith isn’t about cold hard logic or empirical evidence—that’s why it’s called faith.
On a related topic, it is this blithe dismissal of faith as a legitimate reason for disagreement, which allows progressives to trample on the first amendment right of religious freedom. For too many progressives, the cause of liberty disappears when it comes using state coercion to implement their policy goals.
Though I find myself on the same side of the gay marriage debate with David Moon, he and other gay marriage proponents are slandering people of goodwill who hold a legitimate, opposing point of view. Are there some bigoted gay marriage opponents out there? Yes. However, Moon and his cohorts have painted all opponents of gay marriage with the same bigot brush. Those juvenile antics may win plaudits from his neck of the fever swamp, but it is no way to win over voters to your cause.
I would hope that Moon could learn from the example of Delegate Heather Mizeur, an eloquent proponent of gay marriage, who tweeted this graceful and gracious note to her colleague Justin Ready—an equally eloquent opponent of gay marriage.
But alas, I’m probably hoping for too much.
