gay marriage revisited (англ.)

[avva]

Вот (англ.) наиболее рассудительная и убедительная из статей против гомосексуального брака, из тех, что я видел в последнее время.

Далеко не со всем так согласен, итп. — но почитать стоит. Хороша, кроме прочего, тем, что в ней честно и подробно описываются другие точки зрения и (некоторые) аргументы противной стороны.

Comments

[avva.livejournal.com]

I don't think you're being superior, but I do think you may be misjudging the opposition to gay marriage that is "out there" and some of the reasons or arguments underlying it. Without presuming to generalize, consider my example. I'm strongly opposed to gay bashing and stereotyping, and have spoken forcefully against homophobia and gay-bashing on many different occassions. I feel overt displays of homophobia to be about as sickening and appalling as overt displays of racism. I'm not at all terrified of homosexuality or homosexuals. I'm strongly in favor of sexual-orientation-blindness (boy, does that sound awkward) and equal treatment in all walks of life except possibly gay marriage (where my opinion is still fluctuating, but is much, much closer to contra than pro). It appears that in your worldview I simply ought not to exist!

Perhaps many (though of course not all) "polite" opponents of gay marriage are a lot closer to the worldview outlined above and exemplified by yours truly, than they are to your slightly paranoid (I beg you not to take any offence at this adjective) picture of unreformed bigots having learned to hide their appalling bigotry behind the mask of polite argument.

[(Anonymous)]

Don't worry, I don't take offense -- it's impossible to have discussions like this if everyone is constantly being offended! In my initial rant I was reacting to the article under discussion and similar pieces I have seen, not to your own attitude, which I didn't really know anything about. It's not that I think you (and other gay-friendly opponents) ought not to exist, it's that I don't understand how you think. Homophobia I understand; gay-friendliness I understand; a person who is "strongly in favor of sexual-orientation-blindness... and equal treatment in all walks of life" and (I presume) actually knows gay people and interacts with them on a friendly and equal basis, but who's willing to tell those gay people "I'm sorry, I don't have anything against you and I know you love each other as much as we straight people do and I know you suffer from the current situation, but nonetheless I don't think you should be allowed to get married"... this I don't understand. I'm not so much paranoid as uncomprehending. I've never seen an argument on the contra side that didn't boil down to "if we allow this... something terrible is going to happen!" It's the kids, or the institution of marriage, or civilized life in general, who knows? There's never a concrete explanation of what exactly will happen (we're not talking here about the primitive "gays molest kids" homophobes), just this certainty that it's wrong. And I can't accept that as a rational argument. So when I see a rational person on that side of the argument, I'm puzzled. I look forward to seeing your position laid out more clearly.

Again, I do not think, or wish to imply, that you or anyone here is an "unreformed bigot"!

[avva.livejournal.com]

and (I presume) actually knows gay people and interacts with them on a friendly and equal basis

Oh, most definitely!

So when I see a rational person on that side of the argument, I'm puzzled.

I understand your puzzlement; in fact, I share it to some extent. That's why I keep probing the issue, keep weighing arguments pro and contra that occur to me, or those I read somewhere.

I don't think I'm ready yet to lay out my position as clearly as I'd like it to be laid out; that'll probably take some more thinking and pondering about the issue. But I'll certanly write about it here when I feel up to it ;)