Re: Equally Gay

"Framing problem" is right, Whit.  Because of the way this issue is approached, it produces all kinds of confusion - even (if not especially) on the Conservative side.

Here is Aaron Goldstein in The American Spectator: 

Now I happen to support same sex marriage.

What he really supports, if I may peer into his heart of hearts, is the same thing I support: Gays can do anything they want, including committing to a life-long relationship and calling it a marriage. This comes from that All-American strain in me of libertarianism, which is decidedly non-interventionist when it comes to what my neighbors want to do with their lives.  Live and let live, I say, to each his own, and etc. and so forth.

But because of the way the debate is framed, Goldstein and others translate the issue as if there are some sort of laws suppressing Gay choices, and feel compelled to associate themselves with the "freedom" side of the issue.  But Gay "freedom" in the political sense is not the freedom to marry, which they already have, but the additional right to sue people (insurance companies, employers, hospitals, and governments, to name a few) for refusing to give lip service (and preferences and dollars and tax breaks) to their personal self-concept.

Well, I want lip service, preferences, dollars, and tax breaks, too.  But my own personal self-concept has gained little approbation over the years, and I don't expect society to change much in the future.  So I say to Gays, welcome aboard! Get over it and get on with your life. And quit bothering the rest of us about it.

Equally Gay

Since our President has finally finished his deep meditations on the question of Gay marriage, it would seem apropos to reiterate some thoughts I have had on the subject. First, this line from President Obama's recent remarks:

I've just concluded that, for me personally, it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married.

I also note all of the headlines and commentary on the passing of Amendment 1 to the North Carolina Constitution, defining marriage as between a man and a woman, which describe the Amendment as "banning" Gay marriage.

Tut, tut to all of this. Contra the President, same-sex couples right now, today, have the right to get married in every State in the Union. In 2010, I posted the following:

Gays in California (and every State of the Union) have every right to get married, whenever they want, with whoever they want. They can go out and start their own church - or get a friend, like Joey Tribiani of Friends, to go on the Internet and become a bona fide priest of the "Church of Agnostic Hope" or some such - get a group together and have a solemn ceremony. Bingo, marrried. And then they can cohabitate to their hearts content and tell everyone that they are married.

Continue.....