Tuesday, September 02, 2003

MORE GAY MARRIAGE B.S. FROM THE RIGHT
Damn, I really don't want to discuss this to death, but why are conservatives so... well, dumb when it comes to the issue of gay marriage? For instance, take this comment posted by Jonah Goldberg on National Review Online earlier today:

Gays in Canada don't want marriage because marriage is "too conservative" for folks who don't believe in such things as monogamy. Here's a quote worth pondering:

"Ambiguity is a good word for the feeling among gays about marriage,"
said Mitchel Raphael, editor in chief of Fab, a popular gay magazine in
Toronto. "I'd be for marriage if I thought gay people would challenge
and change the institution and not buy into the traditional meaning of
`till death do us part' and monogamy forever. We should be Oscar
Wildes and not like everyone else watching the play."

Fine, fine. But if that's the attitude toward marriage, they shouldn't have marriage as an option.


Now, honestly... is Jonah Goldberg a complete and utter moron? Does he ride the short bus to work? Let's find out exactly how many leaps of logic he made in the excerpt above (most of which is a quote from the New York Times, by the way):

1. I know many gay men and lesbians. None of us know Mitchel Raphael. Therefore, Mitchel Raphael speaks for Mitchel Raphael, and not for the rest of us. Get that, Jonah?

2. "(M)arriage is too conservative for those who don't believe in... monogamy." True, I suppose, although the institution of marriage seems to be held dear by a few hundred million heterosexuals who have their own zipper problems. In any event, though, do the opinions of a handful of people quoted in the Times story -- again, none of whom I know -- represent the opinion of every homosexual on the planet? If so, where's the proof? If not, why the comment that we shouldn't have marriage as an option?

3. Astute readers -- which apparently do not include Jonah Goldberg -- will note that the Times article is entirely anecdotal. Unless I missed something, they conducted no polls. The article certainly represents some opinions within the GLBT community, but even the Times doesn't pretend it's a detailed study destined for a Pulitzer Prize.

4. Again, if Jonah had read that article and thought about it, maybe he would have realized that those homosexuals who do not want to make that ultimate commitment are not getting married. That's why there's a big discrepancy between the number of registered partners and the number seeking marriage licenses. Is dumbass Jonah really saying that gay people committed to monogamy and wanting to get married should be penalized because those uncommitted to monogamy do not want to get married?

Every time I start to feel complacent, intellectually-dishonest people like Jonah Goldberg remind me that there is a reason to stay angry. Jonah Goldberg would not be able to survive a day dealing with the unthinking petty indignities that the gay population deals with on a daily basis from people like him.