What can you say about Jennifer Thieme, Finance Director of NOM’s former affiliate, the Ruth Institute? Well, as my southern friends would slyly declare: Bless her heart. She tries her best to be a good anti-gay activist, with decidedly mixed results. Now she has a post up at Matt “Barb Wire” Barber’s new website, and she ends it by suggesting that folks on her side should engage people with a series of “conversation starters” — leading questions that turn out to be remarkably easy to answer. This strategy has been tried before and it didn’t work out well for them. Let’s see how it turns out this time:
Did you know that man/woman marriage is being removed from legal recognition?
No, because that’s not happening. Every man/woman marriage that was recognized before the passage of marriage equality will be recognized after the passage of marriage equality.
Is removing the gold standard from policy going to increase or decrease the power of the government over the individual over the long term? Will it be good for children?
Opponents of marriage equality tried and failed to show that same-sex parenting is inferior to opposite-sex parenting, so the whole premise of the question is false. Meanwhile it’s obvious that giving people more freedom over their personal lives will decrease the power of the government over the individual. And of course it will help children: the children of same-sex couples who will now have the legal family protections they deserve. It will help other kids too — see my next answer for more.
What sort of a message are we sending to children by removing the gold standard from policy?
It sends the message to gay kids that they are not disgusting, deviant, loathsome creatures incapable of love and doomed to life of loneliness, regardless of what they might hear from anti-gay activists.
Further, the message that you can live a life of love, commitment, and fulfillment, whether you’re straight or gay, will help all kids navigate the fears and uncertainties of adolescence. We’ve learned that gay-straight alliances in schools reduce the risk of suicide for all students, gay and straight, so there’s every reason to believe this message sent by marriage equality will help all kids, gay and straight.
Why is the radical Left in love with marriage now, when they have historically reviled marriage?
Have they? All of them? Anyway, I don’t know — I’m not part of the radical Left. But perhaps because they believe in equality under the law for all citizens? Really, though, you should just ask them — while remembering that the “radical Left” represents only a small fraction of all those who now support marriage equality.
If this was only about civil marriage, why are we seeing religious liberty issues arise?
These “religious liberty” issues arise from non-discrimination law, and some people are using their religion to demand a special right to ignore those laws. I understand that this demand for special rights is not how you want to spin your cause, but that’s what it is.
You really ought to advocate abolishing all discrimination law, because it all restricts the liberty (including the religious liberty) of people to choose whom they will associate and work with. That’s a much harder sell, of course, but if this is a sincere issue of principle then that shouldn’t dissuade you. If this is just about disliking gay people, though, then stick to your present course.
Should we take the radical Left seriously when they tell us where they’re going?
Again, the “radical Left” represents only a small fraction of all those who now support marriage equality, so I’m not sure how this is relevant.
Well, that was easy. And you know what? It just gets easier every year.