This week on our local Christian talk radio show, they had a guest discussing the recent court case in New Mexico where the state supreme court ruled that a photography business could not claim a First Amendment right to discriminate against gays. (And by the way, the guest also had a book to sell.)
Like the photography business, the guest and the talk show hosts all framed their argument around the idea that the photographer’s decision was not discrimination because it was based on the lesbian couple’s behavior rather than on their status. The court didn’t buy that one, and so the Christians were outraged. How absurd! Giving an entire class of people special privileges just because of their behavior? That’s ridiculous!
And you know, I think they’re exactly right. It is absurd, and completely unjustifiable, to give an entire class of people a special privileged and protected status just because of their behavior, just because their sexual behavior happens to be oriented towards the opposite sex. Separating out heterosexuals, and making them the only class of people who are entitled to the privilege of getting married to one another, is indefensible. The only way to avoid the trap of giving people unearned privileges based on the orientation of their sexual behavior is to grant everybody the same rights and privileges regardless of sexual orientation.
It’s the first time I heard a really cogent and coherent argument from the “traditional marriage” folks, and it’s a shame they believe and practice the exact opposite of what their own argument requires.
Yes, I do think it is absurd, and completely unjustifiable, to give an entire class of people a special privileged and protected status just because of their behavior, such as setting aside an hour on Sundays to go to a special building to talk to invisible spirits.
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What I don’t understand, Deac’, is why you listen to those stations at all? Is it nostalgia?
Just keeping an eye on what they’re saying. Most of the time it’s all foam and blather, like how husbands ought to be more like Christ (who disappeared immediately after the “engagement” and hasn’t had any in-person, face-to-face interactions with his “beloved” bride in 2,000 years–not really the best example you could pick, eh?). I usually turn it off because there’s not enough substance there to even be wrong. Empty Bible babble, just trying to sound spiritual in the absence of any real meaning or relevance. Every now and then, though, they try to take a stand on social issues, and then I get some material for my blog post.
It’s the epitome of “special privilege” to use arguments against others that could be used equally as well against you, without fear that someone actually will do so in any meaningful way.
I love your third paragraph. With a known misogynist, homophobe and marriage equality opponent just elected to the Prime Minster’s office here in Oz, arguments like that are going to become increasingly necessary.