Continuation (now with bold for people in a hurry):
I'll try hard to word this next part without offending, because I truly don't mean any disrespect. I'm more socially conservative than most of my friends, more as a matter of emphasis than of opposition to any given freedom. I'm disturbed by the way the language of rights has been co-opted to stand for what to me is just sexual consumerism. I'm disturbed by the anti-feminist backlash I've noticed lately in progressive circles. It's the whole Bill Maher ideology, which sounds to me like, "Hey baby, I fully respect your right to spread for me in whatever freaky style you deem wisest, and you're 100% free to have an abortion if you get knocked up. What's that? Equal pay? Oh, honey, I've got to go. Text me." To me, for the state to ratify gay relationships is like the state ratifying your right to choose the tattoo or designer sunglasses of your choice: nice, and certainly the right thing if I'm pressed to think about it, just trivial compared to burning issues of economic policy, education, and health care. I guess that means I'm OK with heteronormative policies for the time being. Sorry.
This probably makes me a bigot. I'm not sure I can beat that rap. But I swear it's only a matter of emphasis, of how I allocate my political time, not of actively going out of my way to oppress anyone.
All this said, the anti-gay-marriage initiatives in CA, AZ and FL were disgusting. That the right wing wasted everyone's time and energy on those things makes me sick.
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Date: 2008-11-05 09:38 pm (UTC)I'll try hard to word this next part without offending, because I truly don't mean any disrespect. I'm more socially conservative than most of my friends, more as a matter of emphasis than of opposition to any given freedom. I'm disturbed by the way the language of rights has been co-opted to stand for what to me is just sexual consumerism. I'm disturbed by the anti-feminist backlash I've noticed lately in progressive circles. It's the whole Bill Maher ideology, which sounds to me like, "Hey baby, I fully respect your right to spread for me in whatever freaky style you deem wisest, and you're 100% free to have an abortion if you get knocked up. What's that? Equal pay? Oh, honey, I've got to go. Text me." To me, for the state to ratify gay relationships is like the state ratifying your right to choose the tattoo or designer sunglasses of your choice: nice, and certainly the right thing if I'm pressed to think about it, just trivial compared to burning issues of economic policy, education, and health care. I guess that means I'm OK with heteronormative policies for the time being. Sorry.
This probably makes me a bigot. I'm not sure I can beat that rap. But I swear it's only a matter of emphasis, of how I allocate my political time, not of actively going out of my way to oppress anyone.
All this said, the anti-gay-marriage initiatives in CA, AZ and FL were disgusting. That the right wing wasted everyone's time and energy on those things makes me sick.