Hillary Clinton wants to lead the fight against protecting marriage in the upcoming debate on the matter in the United States Senate. Oh sure, when my New York listeners call her office her spokespeople say that she supports marriage – she just doesn't want to see the federal government overreach.
The old expression - you can't be a little bit pregnant comes to mind...As it applies to Hillary, EVEN if you pretend you are not a little bit pregnant YOU ARE completely pregnant...
On this issue, the issue regarding rights or privileges premised solely upon a subjectively determined and or declared "homosexual orientation" THERE CAN BE NONE! Whether it be homosexual marriage, homosexual adoption, homosexual civil unions, etcetera -there is no legitimate compromise position... If but one illegitimately premised right or privilege is adopted then all must necessarily follow...
The position "being against homosexual marriage but supporting homosexual civil unions" is a non-starter...
BTTT.
Thanks for the way you distill the core issues into view, DB. But on this point, I'm afraid, with the spineless political leadership we have, any forward motion conservatives make will inevitably come with concessions. This is what scares me about the debate on homosexuality: that we are even talking about the viability of such a culture when 40 years ago such a proposition would have been properly dismissed as untenable, and that whenever progress by a leftist ideology is denied by the democratic process, a consolation prize is almost always awarded. This is the insidious strategy of incrementalism. Thus we have a president who is against anything but tradition MARRIAGE, but might consider some type of CIVIL UNIONS as valid. Or as in the abortion debate, where the issue slowly progressed from the eminent life of the mother, to impact to life, to "health" of the mother, (etc. etc.)
It is true, as you posted, that you can't be "a little pregnant", but even with the passage of something as momentous as a federal Marriage Protection Amendment, something will have to give, even if it means bending reality as has been the norm these last 30 or so years.