Sensible comment by Jeff Jacoby puts the gay marriage furore inthe US into its proper perspective. As he says:

'The gay political leadership does itself no good when it pretends that a campaign to shake marriage to its core is a quest for "fundamental human rights." Men no more have a fundamental human right to marry other men than fathers have to marry their daughters, and no one ought to be called a bigot for saying so. When tens of millions of Americans, in state after state, vote against remaking society's core institution, their views are entitled to a modicum of respect. After all, a large and growing majority of Americans treats same-sex relationships with respect. Gay and lesbian couples are widely accepted as part of the social landscape, they enjoy many legal rights and privileges, and no one challenges their freedom of private conduct. But civic equality goes only so far, and most Americans draw the line at saying that sex should be irrelevant to marriage, the core function of which is to unite the sexes. That is hardly an outlandish position. What is outlandish is for the head of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force to declare that courts shouldn't "give a damn" about deeply rooted American values.'

Exactly. Gay people, like everyone else, are entitled to respect, freedom and security. But gay marriage is an assault upon the norms of behaviour and culture which sustain our society. That's because the real agenda is not, as is claimed, the eradication of prejudice and discrimination but the destruction of those moral and social norms so that no-one feels 'abnormal'. The problem is that marriage between a man and a woman is sui generis as the crucible and safeguard of human identity, and cannot be replicated without its fundamental meaning and purpose being mocked and destroyed.

That is why there is such opposition to gay marriage. Contrary to the hysterical reaction among activists, it is nothing whatever to do with prejudice against gay people. To characterise the defence of our most fundamental institution as prejudice is grotesque. Fortunately, some gay people are well able to make the distinction:

' Speaking at Boston's Ford Hall Forum one day after the election, the nation's best known gay politician urged his allies on the left to stop showing such contempt to social moderates and conservatives. "There is something to be said for cultural respect," US Representative Barney Frank remarked. "Showing a bit of respect for cultural values with which you disagree is not a bad thing. Don't call people bigots and fools just because you disagree with them." '

If only everyone was as mature as this.

Posted by melanie at November 8, 2004