Homosexual couples continued to vent their frustration at the referendum's passage, protesting everywhere, rallying their like-minded liberal cohorts and friends to blame conservatives for the proposition's passage. Over and over, the mantra has come up from these liberal gay activists that conservatives are the culprits responsible for the passage of the California, Arizona and Florida gay marriage bans.
This is only partially true. While it is true that social conservatives have been on the front lines of social issues like this for time out of mind, not all conservatives are as deeply passionate about them as others. In fact, a large portion of the conservative movement -- fiscal conservatives and perhaps even paleoconservatives in some cases -- may find themselves disagreeing with social conservatives on issues like this.
Nevertheless, merely identifying yourself as a conservative is enough to earn the vitriol and condemnation of the LGBT movement (that's "lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender," for those unfamiliar with the acronym). Liberals associated with the issue aren't interested in hearing the broad spectrum of conservative opinions on this issue.
Instead, conservatives hear comments like, "Conservatives are motivated by homophobia," and "Conservatives use their religion as a way to oppose gay marriage," and "Conservatives don't harbor the same hatred for divorced people, vandals, or other 'sinners' They have a special hatred for gays and lesbians."
What many of these comments do not recognize is that "I don't support gay marriage" is not the same as "I hate gays" and those on the left who are blinded by their advocacy know it. They refuse to acknowledge it, but they do know it.
To respond to the above comment, not everyone who opposes gay marriage is a "homophobe," and not everyone who opposes gay marriage "hates" gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people. By branding the religious end of an entire movement as "hateful," the people making such remarks brand themselves as "haters" of conservatives. It boils the issue down to one or the other, without considering those in between.
For many people (not just religious conservatives), marriage is a sacred symbol of heterosexual love and commitment. Seeing it changed in such a profound way would be like the National Rifle Association suddenly claiming the rainbow flag as its symbol. Just as this would change the meaning of the flag in a way that is unpleasant to the LGBT community, so too would gay marriage change the meaning of marriage to a large part of the married community.
FAQ Index to 2008 Election Fallout FAQ Index
- How will conservatives fare with a Democratic Congress in 2009?
- What will the White House be like with Obama -- and *gulp* -- Joe Biden in it?
- What will the fallout be from the passage of gay marriage bans in Arizona, California and Florida?
