An excellent piece in Sunday's NY Times magazine by IGF's co-managing editor Jon Rauch, laying bear the vacuousness of the anti-marriage arguments, one by one. Surely many of the anti-gay activists and intellectuals making these empty assertions know they lack substance but figure they'll still inflame their followers.
It also must be said that too many of our purported gay "leaders" seem unable or unwilling to engage in hard argument with the right. An example: Julian Sanchez writes on Reason magazine's blog:
I tend to watch Crossfire for laughs, but right now I'm livid. Tucker Carlson just asked Human Rights Campaign president Cheryl Jacques why, for all the reasons she advances to support gay marriage, polyamorous groupings of three or more men or women shouldn't be recognized. Her brilliant, principled answer? "Because I don't approve of that."
I've also heard activists dismiss the polygamy charge by saying "that's ridiculous" and then moving on. Yes, we know it's ridiculous, but that canard sways many who may be good-hearted but not well-informed. There's more to gay activism than just asserting moral superiority. We need fewer "professional activists" who excel at preaching to the choir and more astute arguers like Jonathan Rauch and our other contributing authors. Check out some of their latest columns posted to your right (including anther piece by Jon, this time for the National Journal).
The Mayor's On Board -- or So They Say.
Here's an odd piece from the Saturday NY Times about Mayor Mike
Bloomberg addressing a meeting of the National Lesbian and Gay
Journalists Association, headlined Bloomberg
Said to Want State to Legalize Same-Sex Marriages. Or does he?
Despite the fact that he was speaking to a journalists'
association, the Times says that:
No tape recordings were rolling, and various auditors were somewhat fuzzy trying to remember his exact words. --
He did say in certain terms that 'I think the law should be changed,' -- Eric Hegedus, vice president of the journalists association, recalled yesterday. Pamela Strother, president of the association, remembered it all as less assertive. "My recollection is that he said something like he wished the law were different," she said.
Did I mention this was a meeting of
journalists?