Not fair? NOT FAIR?

Thomas Peters, cultural director of the National Organization for Marriage and self-styled “American Papist”, recently whined a bit about the latest victories for marriage equality:

And that’s all we’re looking for is an even fight, and every place where it’s been an even fight, where we’ve had as many resources, as much chance to get our message out, people have protected marriage every time. I don’t think we could say that any of these four fights were a fair one.

Well, let’s talk a little bit about what’s fair. Does it sound fair for a nation full of devout, conservative Christians to use their homophobic faith as grounds to strip secular, civil equal rights from a 3% minority? Does it seem fair for that anti-gay movement to do this, repeatedly and successfully over the course of decades, while almost no one else is willing to fight back for this minority’s rights? Does that track record look like one of a movement that was lacking in resources, or opportunities to get their message out? Is this a movement that’s been deprived of a fair shot at achieving their political goals? Please.

And do you really think it’s at all likely that NOM would find this an acceptable and plausible excuse by the proponents of equality for the last 32 times we lost at the ballot box? That the fight was not “fair”, true as that may be? No. They would not accept that at all. They’ve spent the past decade telling us that the people’s vote is the final word on our rights. It didn’t matter how unfair the fight was. It didn’t matter how just our cause was. Without that popular support, we lost. Period. This was something they harped on endlessly – that we could never get the public on the side of marriage equality, and we just had to accept our losses and get over it.

Yet they would now claim that the formerly all-important people’s vote no longer matters. Now, they aren’t quite so willing to uphold referenda as the last word on gay rights. Where we were supposed to take our hits, getting over it is just about the last thing on their minds. Coincidentally, their stance just happened to change when they lost four times in one night. Why? The difference is that while we knew we would have to get the public on our side for this to happen, they seem to have become comfortable with the assumption that they’re simply entitled to public support for their legal homophobia. And when that ceased to be reflected in the popular vote, they suddenly cry that the game they’ve been playing without complaint for years must now be rigged – because, as they see it, they’re never supposed to lose.

But who on earth could look at results that now stand at 32 to 4, and seriously argue that this fight was unfair to the ones who had their way 32 times? Only the blindly self-righteous egotists of the religious right.

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Not fair? NOT FAIR?
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13 thoughts on “Not fair? NOT FAIR?

  1. 2

    Well – with regard to the American Papist bit here’s a cheery thought.

    The Catholic church has been in deficit conditions for a few years now. Eventually they’ll either start selling indulgences again, or they’ll start selling Bishop and Cardinal seats to highest bidder.

    Now if I had the money I’d buy a Cardinal seat, get elected Pope and transfer the whole kit to NYC. That’s where it belongs. 🙂

  2. 4

    Sounds like the listened to Karl Rove a bit, who still hasn’t returned to reality.

    I just hope this is a sign of the trend reversing into the favor or Marriage Equality, that would be icing on the cake.

  3. 5

    The fight has never been fair. We (LGBTQ folks) are at a massive disadvantage, everywhere, and this has been an uphill battle for us since the beginning.

  4. 7

    They’re the typical hypocritical majority group. Whenever they win something it’s the right thing, “the people” have spoken and the losers need to STFU and crawl into a hole. The thing they fear most is losing their unearned, undeserved privilege. It’s happening and now they’re crapping their pants.

  5. 10

    Lol — didn’t have a chance to get your message out? The message is (and has been for many years) plain and clear to everyone in the country: “you (and by extension, God) don’t like fags, and you don’t think they should get married”.

    This has never truly been a religious issue. I know barrels full of Christians who think the government should allow same-sex marriage. Homophobes just use religion as a convenient excuse to attempt to legalize their bigotry

  6. 11

    Not fair. Now that the popular vote went our way, it’s not fair.

    ::stares:: Wow. Um…I think that’s what my mother would call chutzpah. Plain ol’ ordinary chutzpah. Also known as gall.

    Good grief.

  7. 12

    Wait, so, now that they finally lost at the ballot box, the argument has shifted to, “Well, every time it was fair we won at the ballot box. The only times we lost weren’t fair!”

    Wow. I mean, at least our side (or most of us, at least) can readily admit that we lost at the ballot box many times fair and square. I take issue with the rights of a minority being subjected to a majority vote, of course, but the elections themselves were legitimate.

    “Sour grapes” doesn’t even begin to describe this kind of petulant behavior.

  8. 13

    Quite often my daughter will challenge her younger sister to a race while she is already 5 or 10 m ahead of her and then declare a triumphant victory. If her younger sister does this and reaches the finish line first (usually doors and stuff), she’ll cry “not fair” and sometimes throw a little tantrum. Her working definition of fair is “whatever lets me win the race”.
    Well, we take her aside and explain to her what “fair” actually means. She’s five now. I think there’s a good chance she will grow up into a reasonable adult.
    The people at NOM obviously didn’t.

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