Gay marriage is not the new abortion
12 Jun
NEWS FLASH FROM NATALIE
NOTE: I read this article in the Post before the horrific murder of Dr. George Tiller and before Sonia Sotomayor was nominated.
The Washington Post reports that gay is the new abortion at least as far as the Supreme Court nomination goes. And politicians may try to make that argument. But I think they’re wrong.
Let me preface this by saying I am adamantly, unequivocally pro-choice. However, I think, regardless of whether gay marriage comes legislatively or judicially, gay marriage will ultimately be accepted even as the abortion debate goes on. My reasoning is basically this: try as they may, anti-gay forces have not compellingly argued that allowing gay marriage directly harms other human beings. From a conservative libertarian viewpoint (that I happen to not hold), it’s hard to argue with gay marriage, as it extends human freedoms and is victimless.
However, if you believe, as I think most anti-abortion activists do, that abortion is the taking of a life, allowing abortion is not victimless. While I may strongly disagree, I owe the vast majority (people like Dr. Tiller’s murderer aside) of the anti-abortion community the benefit of the doubt that their position is not based in misogyny but rather in a definition of life that differs from mine. On the other hand, I think it’s pretty easy to see that those who oppose gay marriage simply oppose the expansion of liberties to a class of people of whom they disapprove.
Their days in power are numbered.
