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October 28, 2006
Homohypocrisy
The New York Times has a pretty devastating editorial on the Republican stance on gay marriage, which concludes thusly:
If the last month has taught us anything about the Republican Party, it is that homophobia is campaign strategy, not conviction. Congressmen who trust their careers to gay staffers vote for laws to enshrine second-class citizenship for gays in the Constitution. Gay appointees and their partners are treated as married people at official ceremonies and social gatherings. Then whenever an election rolls around, the whole team pretends it’s on a mission to save America from gay marriage.
Mr. Bush and his faithful acolytes seem perfectly willing to stoke fears that create division and sorrow in a country that doesn’t need any more of either. The president has just a little more than two years left in office. You’d think that for once he’d want to consider devoting his time to making things better instead of worse.
Posted by Chris Selley at October 28, 2006 04:37 PM
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Comments
Devastating? ... Petulant. Flatulent. But devastating?
Posted by: EMG at October 28, 2006 07:35 PM
Slightly petulant, yes, especially at the end. Perhaps not as devastating as all that. But a good point very well argued, in my opinion.
Posted by: Chris Selley at October 28, 2006 08:40 PM
I don't agree with it, but I think the official party position is acceptance of gay couples, but against gay marriage. "Treated as married people" is very vague. That sounds like respecting their choice of partner, which is polite, at the very least. Politically, yes, they rage against the gay machine, but their end game is only to 'maintain' the strict hetero-marriage arrangement, and they use outrageous means to get there. But I don't think anyone thinks they are going to ban same-sex unions, which is exactly what they are recognizing amongst their appointees.
Posted by: Firehead at October 29, 2006 01:06 AM
So if these legions of gay Republican staffers are doing so well now, working productively, with active social lives and accepted by their colleagues, which laws do we need to see changed? Why?
I am not arguing that a change in laws isn't appropriate - but far from a devastating argument, this one seems pretty weak.
Posted by: DCardno at October 29, 2006 03:07 AM
Well I think that's just the point, Dean. All the NJ court said was "homosexual relationships should be treated as equal by the state, not nearly equal." It doesn't really seem like that big of a deal either way, and yet the Republicans were on it like white on rice, vowing to protect marriage.
Posted by: Chris Selley at October 29, 2006 09:13 AM
Those Republican staffers doing so well for themselves are living and working in an environment that's far, far removed from your average American social circles. In stoking fear and hatred within their red-state base, they're consigning gays in those communities to a life considerably different from the ones that gay Republicans in DC are living. Which, when you think about it, reflects worse on those gay Republicans than anyone else.
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Posted by: Matthew at November 7, 2006 02:21 PM
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Posted by: Matthew at November 7, 2006 02:22 PM