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How America learned to love gay marriage
The London Telegraph ^ | October 13, 2014 | Peter Foster in Washington

Posted on 10/22/2014 12:38:01 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet

American attitudes to gay marriage have been turned on their head in the space of a single generation.

After a US Supreme Court decision this month, 30 of America’s 50 states will have gay marriage laws, which is testament to the sudden shift in attitudes towards same-sex unions in the US.

Two decades ago barely a quarter of Americans believed members of the LGBT community should enjoy equal marriage rights; now nearly two-thirds accept gay marriage.

This quantum leap cannot be explained by what sociologists call generational shift – that is older, conservative folk dying off and younger, more liberal people taking their places. Something more radical and unforeseen took place that precipitated a change in opinion that leapt across the generations.

So how did it happen?

Don’t ask, don’t tell … 1993

The title of Bill Clinton’s legislation to allow gay people to serve in the US military told its own story: the gay and lesbian community could be tolerated, but only if it kept itself to itself.

“Don’t ask don’t tell” sounds ugly now, but at the time it was a hard-fought compromise with the generals who warned that gay soldiers would cause dangerous confusion on the front lines.

That bill showed how far attitudes still had to travel. The Democrats had a “no discrimination on basis of sexual orientation” clause in their policy platform since 1980, but in practice that was far more aspiration than actuality....

(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; Government; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: corporateliberalism; culturewar; dontaskdonttell; gaynewsrooms; hollywoodreds; homofascism; homosexualagenda; homosexualmarriage; pinkjournalism; propaganda; samesexmarriage
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To: St_Thomas_Aquinas; lightman
Luther on polygamy:...

Give it a rest. The Lutheran church does not embrace polygamy; and even your quote from Luther does not embrace polygamy. He merely refused to get excited about it and refusd to judge yesterday's actions by today's standards; so read it again and note that he is analyzing the issue, not endorsing it.

61 posted on 10/22/2014 3:03:56 PM PDT by Albion Wilde (It is better to offend a human being than to offend God.)
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To: AppyPappy
That’s a very real problem but I suspect it will be eased as we begin to experience “gay divorce”.

Why should gay divorce statistics receive any more attention from the media than any of the other appalling comparisions easily made between the gay lifestyle and the hetero condition? Their higher ratres of illness, suicide, drug abuse, domestic violence, child sexual abuse, promiscuity, STDs, anal and genital cancer, smoking, earlier death and just about any other social pathology you can name fail to make the news -- and you think their divorce rate will not be suppressed as well?

How very disingenuous.

62 posted on 10/22/2014 3:08:54 PM PDT by Albion Wilde (It is better to offend a human being than to offend God.)
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To: alloysteel
should there be refugees from the “blue” republics that wish to migrate to the “red” republic, only after a very stringent period of testing and demonstration of long-term future loyalty, would they be permitted to gain permanent residency in the “red” republic.

One way that Switzerland has remained a viable country with high standards is their ten-year waiting period for citizenship applications.

63 posted on 10/22/2014 3:10:50 PM PDT by Albion Wilde (It is better to offend a human being than to offend God.)
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To: Albion Wilde

143 years young but could have been written yesterday.

Krauth was a giant.


64 posted on 10/22/2014 3:22:57 PM PDT by lightman (O Lord, save Thy people and bless Thine inheritance, giving to Thy Church vict'ry o'er Her enemies.)
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To: reformedliberal
Things don't happen in a vacuum. If parents were not weak, and did not give in to their rebellious children, but told them with love that they would not accept their rebellious lifestyle choices and stuck to it, many of those children would rethink or even eventually abandon their rebellion. That's what happened to me. Anecdotal examples, neither yours nor mine, are not a substitute for righteousness.

With regard to marriage, "Everybody's doing it" is not an acceptable reason to abandon the JudeoChristian standard of marriage.

No offense to you and your choice of marrying out of your religion, but in every war there is collateral damage, and some children will never be reconciled to their parents' point of view. But parents who truly believe in their Jewish or Christian religion should not cave in to behaviors they do not want in their own household. "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." (Joshua 24:15)

Click here.

65 posted on 10/22/2014 3:25:14 PM PDT by Albion Wilde (It is better to offend a human being than to offend God.)
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To: IrishBrigade

A lot of Millennials are more conservative than their hippy parents. So while it is more acceptable among Millennials than it ever was when we (Boomers) were that age, it is still not supported by a majority. Not by a long shot.


66 posted on 10/22/2014 3:28:14 PM PDT by IronJack
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Sodomizers


67 posted on 10/22/2014 3:33:42 PM PDT by Old Yeller (D.A.M.N. - Deport All Muslims Now! Starting in the White House.)
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To: lightman
Krauth was a giant.

Saved your passage from his work to hard drive. Put the title on my bucket list.

68 posted on 10/22/2014 3:34:48 PM PDT by Albion Wilde (It is better to offend a human being than to offend God.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Media manipulation, it’s that simple, as well as people not preaching the word of God like they should.


69 posted on 10/22/2014 3:54:24 PM PDT by JSDude1
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To: Albion Wilde

That was going to happen anyway.


70 posted on 10/22/2014 4:04:35 PM PDT by AppyPappy
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To: Albion Wilde

Because gays and lesbians don’t fight quietly.


71 posted on 10/22/2014 4:05:20 PM PDT by AppyPappy
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To: Albion Wilde

Krauth’s book has been republished by Concordia Publishing House http://www.cph.org

Around this time last year they had it availble at 50% off.


72 posted on 10/22/2014 5:59:42 PM PDT by lightman (O Lord, save Thy people and bless Thine inheritance, giving to Thy Church vict'ry o'er Her enemies.)
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To: Lurking Libertarian; AppyPappy

Thanks, Lurking.

We have to be honest with ourselves.

If you want to know how they’ve turned the issue on its head in a single generation, it’s partly because while the libs were working hard, we were lying to ourselves about how many people were still on our side.

Ignoring reality only harms our ability to respond.


73 posted on 10/23/2014 6:45:41 AM PDT by highball ("I never should have switched from scotch to martinis." -- the last words of Humphrey Bogart)
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To: AppyPappy

Another financial aspect to consider is that the Dems are quietly advancing the rollback of the marriage penalty. Patty Murray introduced just such a bill in the Senate Budget Committe last Spring.

Gays tend to be more affluent and financially savvy than the general population. That the Dems are suddenly starting to take shots at a big disincentive to marry speaks volumes.


74 posted on 10/23/2014 7:03:05 AM PDT by tanknetter
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To: Albion Wilde

Sorry, but absolutism will never change someone’s heart. Shunning and excommunication may have once worked in small closed societies where the person choosing a different path could be bullied with the prospect of being alone and without group protection. The world is different today. Name your most previously forbidden behavior and there are support communities eager to embrace the prodigal, providing a sanctioned substitute.

Friends and family may refuse acceptance and then find that they are the ones now isolated from the general society. Prevalent culture is predominate.

I am not arguing which POV is right. That, too, is relative. I am observing a reality I have lived and which I see everywhere. Amish, Jewish, Christian cultures are today marginalized by an overwhelming culture imperative where traditionalists are still free to believe whatever they desire as long as they do not act against the overarching secular culture. The State seemingly has the support of a majority to apply negative sanctions against tradition.

We have abandoned black and white values for the rainbow and the gray scale. It may be our downfall, but that is simply how the world is presently organized. Coerced values are not values at all. They are simply perceived as jack-booted thuggery and the general society will close ranks against them.

I’ve known martyrs. They can be as unpleasant to be around as the most profligate rebel. Quoting religious texts to the unbelievers is as profitable as trying to teach pigs to sing. There are cultures, such as Islam,that prescribe torture and death for anyone breaking their commandments. Even that does not work with everyone.

We once believed values could not be legislated and yet, the secular culture has legislated theirs, to great effect. Castigate parents who choose to have a relationship with their child, regardless of lifestyle, if you wish. Those families are faced with choices most of us would not want to make. If blame must be placed, then a case could be made for the traditional values failing to offer attractive alternatives. If it is to be “My way or the highway”, one must be prepared for the hard road of rejection.


75 posted on 10/23/2014 7:03:46 AM PDT by reformedliberal
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To: EternalVigilance

“a lawless, arbitrary court opinion does not equate to a ‘sudden shift in attitudes’ among the American people.”

No, but the response to it does.

Where is the massive public outrage to this judicial overreach? Where are the protests, the parades? We’ve seen nothing. The only response is the predictable one from the “press release warriors” looking to pick our pockets.

Even most Republican governors are now knuckling under without a fight. That’s because they know what side their bread is buttered. In very few states is opposition to gay marriage even close enough to 50/50 that a politician can risk coming out hard against it.

We need to stop kidding ourselves about the task ahead of us. We’re not just facing a couple rogue judges or a handful of craven politicians, we’re lining up against a majority of the American people. We need to recognize that if we’re to have any hope of turning them back.


76 posted on 10/23/2014 7:15:11 AM PDT by highball ("I never should have switched from scotch to martinis." -- the last words of Humphrey Bogart)
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To: reformedliberal; MarkRegal05

“They had no choice but to accept their child’s circumstances or lose all contact with that child.”

They had a choice - to condemn it as sin. If that meant their son stayed away, that was their son’s business.

“I have no answers, but what do you expect the parents to do? Break off all contact with their child forever while the child continues on alone in their error?”

In the tale of the Prodigal Son, did the Father go sleep with the pigs next to his wayward son? Or did he wait for his son to ‘come to his senses’? Love isn’t making someone comfortable in their sin. You don’t help an alcoholic by pounding down beers with him.


77 posted on 10/23/2014 7:27:14 AM PDT by Mr Rogers
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To: highball

Right. I don’t disagree with you. But the first step to turning them back is for those who should know better to clearly recognize once again the basis for the rule of law in this country, which is the laws of nature and nature’s God, the Constitution, and the sworn obligations of the oath of office.

If anyone is playing pretend it is those who have bought into the judicial supremacist lie.


78 posted on 10/23/2014 7:30:29 AM PDT by EternalVigilance
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To: highball

“The Declaration of Independence...claims...the ultimate source of authority by stating...they were...’appealing to the Supreme Judge of the World for the rectitude of their intentions.’...The foundations of our independence and our Government rests upon basic religious convictions. Back of the authority of our laws is the authority of the Supreme Judge of the World, to whom we still appeal. It seems to me perfectly plain that the authority of law, the right to equality, liberty, and property, under American institutions, have for their foundation reverence for God. If we could imagine that to be swept away, these institutions of our American government could not long survive.”

— President Calvin Coolidge


79 posted on 10/23/2014 7:33:35 AM PDT by EternalVigilance
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To: St_Thomas_Aquinas

“And it was all predicted in Humanae Vitae, 45 years ago.”

And in Pope Leo XIII’s Arcanum 130 years ago concerning the danger of the civil authorities defining marriage however it suits them at the time. He wrote it in the context of the dangers of civil divorce and remarriage, and how it would condition people to rely on the civil authorities to define the institution.

Freegards


80 posted on 10/23/2014 7:44:50 AM PDT by Ransomed
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