CATS AND DOGS STILL NOT LIVING TOGETHER: David Blankenhorn

From today's editorial in the Salem, Oregon Statesman Journal:
"We have yet to hear of a happily married straight couple who called it quits because marriage licenses have been issued to gay couples in Oregon ... If gay marriage threatens the underpinnings of traditional marriage anywhere in the country, we should be seeing evidence in Oregon by now. In fact, life has pretty much gone on as usual for heterosexual couples in the months since Multnomah County issued more than 3,000 marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples. Those licenses did not entice straight people to suddenly 'turn gay.'"

Well, now that we know that the civil-disobedience same-sex marriage ceremonies in Oregon a couple of months ago haven't caused straight people all over that state to "turn gay," that pretty much settles the issue, doesn't it? After all, hasn't everyone who opposes SSM been predicting that that would happen? Imagine, weeks and weeks have gone by, and no outbreak of "turning gay" yet! And no rush (yet!) of straight married couples suddenly filing for divorce, saying that same-sex couples tying the knot caused them to do it.

The fact that people of good will can make these statements -- the fact that they apparently sincerely believe that opposition to SSM is actually grounded in the expectation that marriages will collapse overnight and in fears about people "turning gay" -- tells me that opponents of SSM have simply not yet successfully explained the ways in which SSM is likely over time to weaken marriage as an institution. If we are going to argue about this, shouldn't the argument at least be a serious one?

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posted by Eve at 7:44 PM | link

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