Hate in the Service of Tolerance
While I opposed California’s Proposition 8 as an unnecessary infringement on the rights of gay couples to marry, I condemn even more strongly the expressions of religious bigotry and violence that have been wielded by many other opponents. Now that Prop 8 has passed, some opponents have gone completely off the deep end, openly threatening violence against the property and persons of religious groups they believe were involved in the passage of Prop 8.
Other outraged Prop 8 opponents have taken a legalistic route, asking the new Obama administration to use the power of the IRS to punish any religious group they don’t like by stripping it of tax-exempt status. Religious groups that promote political causes with which the left agrees, such as the church of the Rev. William Sloane Coffin, would of course not be so targeted.
The bottom line here is hypocrisy — some with an admirable goal of promoting tolerance towards homosexuals embracing intolerance, hatred, and even violence in response to those that disagree. Such behavior strips the gay-rights movement of its legitimacy, reducing it to a bald power play and robbing it of an appeal to common sense notions of fairness and harmlessness in the hopes of brow-beating opponents into submission. Even in a time of political ascendancy for the Democratic Party, however, this is a losing bet. It is worth remembering, for example, that Prop 8 passed on the strength of support from many minority groups. Using violence may increase the political isolation of gay-rights advocates by alienating moderates as well. As was shown during the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s, the key to a successful movement is to engage the support of the mainstream. And as shown by the failure of repressive governments and violent movements around the world, this support cannot be obtained by coercion.
(h/t Michelle Malkin)
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I find it interesting that they went right to Mormons and Catholics and skipped their anger with African-American churches who would seem to have stabbed them in the back.
@BBQ
Thank you for this comment. I couldn’t agree more. While Mormons and Catholics voted on Prop 8 in great numbers so did African American churches as well as African Americans in general. Noone is saying anything about that. It would be interesting to find the reasoning behind that. I think all the protesting is crazy anyway. Why did we all vote on this? It seems to me that we live in a country that is FOR THE PEOPLE and BY THE PEOPLE. Enough said. We voted and it passed…For the second time even.
To summarize an argument by Hannah Judd in one of my friends’ blogs: Gay domestic partners already have every single right afforded to heteosexual couples in California. They have for 10 years now. Calling it “marriage” isn’t about equality, because you can’t make already equal rights more equal for one group without making them less equal for someone else.
They claim its about tolerance, but actions speak louder than words. It’s about taking away the right of anyone else to disagree with gay marriage. And so any group or individual who chooses to believe that gay partnerships and heterosexual marriage are not the same thing can be bullied and legally prosecuted.