Deroy Murdock, a libertarian-minded syndicated columnist, takes
a look at the arguments used to defend sodomy laws in
Freedom and Sex. This is one of the few critiques of the
conservative "slippery slope" theory that goes out on a limb and
describes the libertarian viewpoint:
Should laws against adult homosexuality, adultery and incest potentially place taxpaying Americans over 18 behind bars for such behavior? Priests, ministers, rabbis and other moral leaders may decry these activities. But no matter how much people may frown upon these sexual appetites, consenting American adults should not face incarceration for yielding to such temptations.
Well, that's one way to respond to conservatives who believe if you get rid of sodomy laws you won't have a legal principle left to outlaw incest between consenting adults. But of course, the conservatives have always obscured the fact that abuse of minor children, whether theoretically "consensual" or not, could and would remain illegal despite any Supreme Court ruling regarding the privacy rights of adults exercising free choice in their own bedrooms.
More Balancing by Bushies.
The New York
Times reports that White House aides conferred with 200 gay
Republicans in D.C. for the annual Log Cabin Republican convention
and associated lobbying push:
Among the White House officials briefing the Log Cabin Republicans today was Dr. Joe O'Neill, the administration's AIDS czar, who is openly gay. Bobby Bottoms, a Log Cabin Republican from San Diego, said he was struck by photographs in Dr. O'Neill's office, taken during the White House Christmas party, of Dr. O'Neill and his partner with the president and Laura Bush.
Mr. Bottoms said Dr. O'Neill told the group that the White House was "the most wonderful working environment that he had ever worked in."
"He spoke from the heart and you could tell in his tone, and in his words," Mr. Bottoms said, "he was very passionate that there was absolutely no issue with him and his sexuality."
(I'll refrain from any pun about "Mr. Bottoms," who has probably heard them all.)
Even if overstated by GOP loyalists, this is a BIG change from earlier Republican administrations, and a far cry from what liberals predicted. But of course meeting with gays is just one half of the balancing act. The chairman of the Republican National Committee, former Montana Governor Mark Racicot, recently met with a group of anti-gay conservatives who are enraged over an earlier Racicot get-together with the leadership of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the big Washington-based gay rights lobby.
An account of Racicot's one-hour meeting with the anti-gay activists by one of the attendees, arch-conservative Paul M. Weyrich, is posted on the Free Congress Foundation's Web site under the title A Fatal Flirtation: The GOP and the Homosexual Movement). Writes Weyrich:
In many different ways the [conservative activists] group stressed that if the Republican Party drifts toward the homosexual agenda, it will alienate the millions in the religious right while gaining very few from the homosexual community. "
Chairman Racicot defended his meeting with the Human Rights Campaign by saying "I meet with anyone and everyone." Gary Bauer said that certainly was not true because surely he would not meet with the Ku Klux Klan. Rev. Wildmon asked if he would meet with NAMBLA (The North American Man Boy Love Association). The chairman was not familiar with this group, which advocates sex between men and young boys. The chairman said he would not meet with such an "aberrant" group. He was also asked about GLSEN, the group that is pushing pro-homosexual and pro-transgender education programs in the schools, including elementary schools. Again, the chairman professed ignorance.
This couldn't have been a fun meeting for Racicot, who has good
relations with the Log Cabiners. And it remains to be seen if the
White House can continue to reach out to gays, however tepidly,
without making the religious right even nuttier.
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