Back of the Bus
Anti-Prop 8 Protest in Pittsburgh
Photo © Bonnie Cline, 2008
So-called "gay rights" aren't special rights or special privileges for gays. On the contrary, they're about ensuring that gays have the same fundamental rights as everyone else and no one else has special privileges. Using the phrase "gay rights" obscures this fact and allows some to misrepresent the subject. Similarly, gay marriage is really just about marriage generally and ensuring that it is treated as the fundamental right for everyone just as the Supreme Court has declared it to be.
Read Article: Back of the Bus: Gays Demand Equal Rights & Dignity, Not Special Rights
Austin, when you mentioned that suppression of equal rights for homosexual couples is motivated by the desire for some heterosexuals to feel superior, or in other words a sort of supremacist or bigoted mindset, I think that you hit the nail on the head.
Consider some of the arguments put forth by conservative advocates against gay marriage. They say that granting equal rights to homosexual couples for marriage would desecrate the sancitity of marriage. However, estimates for homosexuality prevalence vary between 1% to 2%, but divorce prevalence in the United States is approximately 50%.
In my honest opinion, I fail to see how allowing a very small minority of individuals with a different sexual orientation will “desecrate” marriage. But regardless of whether we’re liberal or conservative, I think that we can all agree that our current divorce laws make marriage in general feel less binding and significant.
Every time that I speak with an anti-homosexual marriage advocate, they always mention the same tiresome “sanctity of marriage” argument. In not one of these conversations have these opponents ever brought up the subject of divorce, which indeed devalues the institution of marriage due to the fact that half of all marriages end in divorce.
These discussions I’ve had with homosexual marriage opponents suggest that they don’t genuinely believe in “sanctity of marriage” argument, or else they would be condemning our divorce laws with much more severity because it is far more prevalent the amount of homosexuals.
What do you think really motivates these anti-gay bigots, Austin? Let me know what you think.