Interesting thoughts. I can’t say I agree (but polite disagreement is acceptable). In my career circle there are many gay men and women, and while I suppose they would prefer acceptance over tolerance, nothing I have seen shows that they want much more than to be allowed to live their lives as they see fit. Their whole beef with the legality of marriage has had to do with legal protections, etc. With the myriad of religions practicing in this country, all with different ideas of what marriage is, the roles the participants are means to inhabit, the rules contained therein, and how all these rules have changed tremendously even in the last 50-75 years.....I don’t see that this will make much of a difference.
You are right about unintended consequences, and I am all for the precautionary principle when it comes to the physical world/environmental concerns. I guess...when it comes to the gay marriage thing.....sorry, Libertarian that I am....I haven’t heard any convincing “worst case scenarios” that really ruffle my feathers. They mostly seem hyperbolic and fear based.
I recognize I’m probably an anomaly on this board. There are a lot of issues here I can agree with wholly, but others I don’t. Hopefully there isn’t a purity test I have to pass to post respectfully on this subject.
Gay marriage is just one of the many assaults on traditional values. Personally I think those values are the glue that holds our (or any other) society together.
When enough of the glue has been destroyed, it is quite possible, IMO, that the society will suddenly and dramatically self-destruct.
I hope you’re right, that our society is infinitely malleable, and that activists can adjust it to suit their whims without drastic negative consequences.
But I doubt it. Are you familiar with “critical theory?” Whether they realize it or not, CT is behind all modern attacks on traditional values by progressives.
But CT does not have a goal or a state towards which it works and is then satisfied that eutopia has been reached.
When is achieves goal A, there isn’t even a pause before expressing outrage at situation B, and so forth. IOW, they will NEVER be happy. Institutions and practices are ALL to be destroyed. An implacable enemy cannot be appeased, he can only be fought and defeated. Or you can lose the battle and be destroyed yourself.
IMO, most American think we can still give in on gay marriage or whatever the issue du jour is and they’ll be satisfied and leave us alone. But that’s not an option. They’re like the Bond villain when asked if he expects Bond to talk. “No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die.”
Your mileage, of course, may vary, and I respect people with honest but different opinions. I do not, however, respect the critical theorists, who are, I believe, the most deadly enemies of humanity.