Posted: November 21, 2003
1:00 a.m. Eastern
By Aaron
Klein
© 2003 WorldNetDaily.com
Massachusetts' highest court ruled on Tuesday it is unconstitutional to deny same-sex couples the right to marry. Vermont already allows civil unions, which offer most of the same legal benefits as marriage. And the nation is braced for same-sex marriage to be a major issue in the upcoming presidential elections. With the whole country discussing homosexual marriage, I fear we've skipped a crucial middle step, and in so doing, we may have ended the battle before it begins.
The debate about "gay" marriage assumes that America has accepted homosexuality as a valid alternative lifestyle, and homosexuals as a legitimate segment of our population, which merits talk of specific legal rights.
"Gay" activists argue that homosexuality was officially recognized by the United States when the Supreme Court struck down an old Texas sodomy law. And they point out that homosexuals and lesbians are undeniable parts of our culture – as characters in popular TV shows and movies, as best-selling authors, as open contributors to various industries, etc. Americans, they assert, have embraced homosexuality as being a very real, legitimate alternative lifestyle.
But I don't believe this is the case. Not when recent polls show that fifty-four percent of Americans support an amendment banning homosexual marriage. Or that fifty-three percent oppose legalizing civil unions, and fifty percent say they will be less likely to support a presidential candidate who advocates homosexual marriage. (Only 10 percent would be more likely to support such a candidate.)
The Texas sodomy law was clearly unconstitutional – it's wrong to criminalize only one "sexual sin" and allow for most others, including adultery. But the liberal media was too quick to jump on the homosexual rights bandwagon and declare that a Supreme Court decision which decriminalized a private sexual act, was also a national affirmation of the homosexual lifestyle.
I don' t think Americans have made up their minds yet. They seem to view homosexuality as something they can tolerate if they must. And most people just aren't passionate enough about the issue to fight against it. The homosexual camp is well aware of this, and is intent on making it appear that Americans have already accepted homosexuality – that it is now simply a matter of debating the various laws attendant to this supposed acceptance.
Politicians, including President Bush, believe they are doing their constituencies and this country a great service by making statements against homosexual marriage. But by fostering this dialogue, which deals with a specific legal issue, I don't think they realize they are passively recognizing homosexuality as ripe for a legal-status debate.
If it appears we have accepted a certain social group as legitimate, as the marriage debate makes it seem, then we cannot in our democratic society get away for very long with denying this group the "basic human rights" extended to all other members, such as recognition of partnerships.
That's why homosexual organizations are ecstatic about the current debate – it's only about how to apply the law, and overlooks the more crucial issue of legitimacy, as if the acceptance part has already occurred.
If there is to be any chance at opposing same-sex marriage, then this country must immediately change the substance of its current dialogue of homosexual marriage to one about national acceptance of homosexuality as a legitimate alternative lifestyle.
President Bush, perhaps the most outspoken proponent of family sanctity, has the power to do this. He can easily make a few general statements that would be quoted on the front pages of the New York Times, and would then spark the discussion we really should be having.
The alternative, to allow the homosexual-marriage debate to continue as if homosexuality has already been accepted, would be to concede the battle. Then, we have only ourselves to blame.
Aaron Klein previously conducted interviews with Yasser Arafat, Benjamin Netanyahu, Ehud Barak, Shlomo Ben Ami and leaders of the Taliban.
_______________________________________________ Sndbox mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://sandboxmail.net/mailman/listinfo/sndbox_sandboxmail.net
