While some anti-gay social conservatives are trying to
accommodate to a likely Supreme Court ruling against same-sex
sodomy laws, others are digging in their heels. In the former camp,
William F. Buckley sees the handwriting on the wall and, in his
March 28 column titled "No Gay
Things Allowed?" opines that:
It would be nice if Texas simply repealed the law [against homosexual conduct], and let Lambda's clients go back to their practices undisturbed.
It ain't gonna happen, but it's nice to see Buckley admit that same-sex sodomy laws should go, even if his motive is fear that a Supreme Court ruling premised on equal protection grounds will have a positive impact on extending gay equality greater than simply making these archaic statutes vanish.
On the other hand, Christian conservative Cal Thomas is adamant
that sodomy laws are necessary to preserve a moral universe. He
writes in his March 28 column "Law, Liberty and
License":
Once sodomy is made legal, what's next? -- Pedophiles who wish to have sex with children assert they should not be prohibited from doing so as long as the child "consents." There is a movement within psychiatry to have pedophilia removed from the shrinking list of "deviant" behaviors, as was done with homosexual practice. What is to prohibit them from doing so if pedophiles testify their fulfillment is being denied, and they feel discriminated against for practicing what, to them, is normal?
This sort of hysterical hyperbole shows the desperation of the
religious right. Thomas is especially upset with Republicans who
favor a gay-inclusive party, and complains that:
Former Republican Sen. Alan Simpson of Wyoming wrote a column for the Wall Street Journal on March 26 in which he argued in favor of the "gay rights" position opposing the Texas law. Simpson said "the proper Republican vision of equality" is "live and let live." Simpson thinks that laws against homosexual practice "are contrary to American values protecting personal liberty..." What Simpson argues for is not liberty but license.
Thomas is a regular panelist on CNN's "Reliable Sources" talkfest. Funny, isn't it, that GLAAD isn't trying to get Thomas kicked off the air (not that I'd favor that), while conducting an ongoing national campaign to intimidate the sponsors of MSNBC's weekly talkshow hosted by Michael Savage, who may be an opponent of gay activists and gay rights legislation, but describes himself as a libertarian on matters of sexual morality?
Family Values.
An op-ed in Sunday's Washington Post reveals how sodomy laws
impact gay lives. In "About
Fairness and My Family" Linda Kaufman writes:
We decided to expand our family four years ago. My partner, Liane, and I knew we could provide a loving home for another child in need. And my son particularly wanted a brother. Then we ran into a 211-year-old law prohibiting private sexual intimacy between consenting adults in the commonwealth of Virginia -- a law that is used mainly against lesbians and gay men.
Reading her story, you realize just how fundamentally immoral
are social conservatives who would argue in favor of retaining
these anti-gay statutes.
--Stephen H. Miller
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