Lindsay Beyerstein: 'If You Oppose Equal Marriage, You're a Bigot' ... Now That's Original!

I haven't blogged much on same-sex marriage, although the holding pattern on Cal's Prop 8 trial will come to an end in June, when closing arguments are scheduled. And we'll see things pick up big time then, especially since hack Judge Vaughn Walker scheduled arguments to coincide with the LA PRIDE FESTIVAL, which celebrates the 40th anniversary of L.A.'s first gay pride demonstration. Not only that, I see folks like Lyndsay Beyerstein have kicked up with the extremist gay marriage agitation, which we find here is the not-so-original meme of defining conservative marriage traditionalists as bigots with no reason other than, well, they're supposed to be bigots. I know. Beyerstein's one Class A anti-intellectual. Still, she's apparently looking to break records with this entry, "If You Oppose Equal Marriage, You Are a Bigot":

By definition, bigots are people with unshakable baseless prejudices. There is absolutely no reason, besides blind prejudice, to deny same sex couples the right to civil marriage.

You can use religious language to express your belief that gays and lesbians are disgusting second class citizens unworthy of rights that heterosexuals take for granted, but it doesn't make your position any less bigoted. Logically, there is no reason to put same-sex relationships on a lesser legal footing than opposite sex unions, unless you think there's something wrong with them.

You can insist you don't wish gay people any harm. Perhaps not. But there were lots of pro-segregationists who didn't wish ill upon black people, but still didn't want to drink out of the same fountains. They too were bigots.

You can point out that discrimination against gays and lesbians is a longstanding tradition, but that doesn't excuse your bigotry. If anything, it makes it worse. It was one thing to fear what the expansion of gay rights might do when gays and lesbians had no rights. Today we're decades into gay liberation and none of the dire predictions have come true. For example, children raised by same-sex parents are at least as healthy and well-adjusted as those raised by opposite sex parents--and no more likely to identify self identify as gay.

So, if you're still clinging to those irrational fears in the face of evidence, guess what? That's bigoted. If, like the voters of California, you voted to break up families in the name of preserving family values, that makes you a hypocrite and a bigot.

As longtime readers know, I've debated this issue up and down to heaven and back. And I've yet to encounter anyone with a prevailing argument. The most folks can muster is that the much-esteemed youth demographic is supposed to carry the pro-gay marriage vote over the top any time soon. Well, the youth vote's petering out as Obama remorse hardens, and, frankly, the Stalinist actions of gay rights forces were so over the top as to alienate potential allies. That whole outing campaign, and the Google maps, etc. God, totally ridiculous, come to think of it, but desperation drives that kind of extremism, so understandable.

And now we've got this screed from Lindsay Beyerstein that's so bereft of anything substantial it's plain ludicrous. She holds herself up as a journalist, which is obviously hard to sustain when your MO is to completely ignore extant arguments against SSM while yammering "There is absolutely no reason, besides blind prejudice, to deny same sex couples the right to civil marriage." No, Lindsay, there are lots of reasons. You're simply too closed-minded, er, bigoted, to even entertain the idea that there might actually exist fundamental non-religious cultural norms, social folkways, and regenerative biological facts that easily repudiate the radical gay licentiousness and hedonism that's never far from the gay marriage program. I mean, sheesh. At least excitable Andrew "Milky Loads" Sullivan puts up some arguments when making the case, as whacked as he is. You're just proving yourself to be the more genuine bigot than anyone of those anti-SSMs you excoriate. It's all you've got (remember, dissent is the new racism).

For reference, see Susan Shell, "The Liberal Case Against Gay Marriage," and David Blankenhorn, The Future of Marriage.