Focus on the Family Tripe

http://www.citizenlink.com/2012/05/24/citizenlink-report-speak-up-for-marriage/

Two Focus on the Family stooges, host Stewart Shepard and "policy analyst" Carrie Gordon Earll, go over the "God's timeless design for marriage" arguments for the benefit of their sheeple who can then go and regurgitate these rehearsed talking points.

Without further adieu...

The Slippery Slope: Not only is gay marriage an abomination, but civil unions and domestic partnerships are unacceptable as well, as they are a stepping stone toward gay marriage.

The Bible Trumps All: "We know what the Bible says, that God created us male and female, he created sexuality and marriage and family to be within that relationship with a married man and wife. From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible talks about marriage between a man and a woman."

First, they leave out the growing diversity within the Christian faith regarding homosexuality. Plenty of Christians have no problem with it.

Second, she says that sexual morality codes carry over from the Old Testament, even if hundreds of others do not. How convenient for all the hetero-Christians. All the things they might want to do - wear polyester blend clothing, eat pork and shellfish, plant different crops in their gardens, and so on, are acceptable. No guilt! But the one thing they aren't tempted to do in the first place - be attracted to their own sex - remains off the table.

Third, allowing your moral code to be dictated by a centuries-old book is ridiculous. For God's sake let your human empathy guide you. I'm a strong believer that all "divine commandments" must have a decipherable moral underpinning. It's why we've kept hold of some part of the Bible and discarded others, because they are offensive to our modern sensibilities of how to treat people. The Golden Rule is a wonderful philosophy (though it isn't unique to Christianity). Jesus' teaching about forgiveness, humility, and loving the poor/outcasts are great. He stood up to pretentious religious clerics whose arrogant moral sanctimony was all for show (who does this remind me of?). But on the other hand, we don't keep slaves, we don't stone people for working on Sunday or disrespecting their parents, we don't force a virgin rape victim to marry her rapist, we don't treat women as property - the list could go on - because we've advanced and developed over the centuries and now recognize that these things violate basic human dignity. Homosexuality falls under that umbrella. It doesn't harm anyone; there is no clear moral reason for opposing it. Fundamentalists will say "look at the substance abuse, look at the promiscuity, look at the depression in the gay community". Well...that's what happens when people like YOU deny us rights, spread malicious lies that make us feel wretched about ourselves, relegate us to the margins of society. It's so bitterly ironic. For years, the conservative Christians pointed to the excesses of the LGBT community as a sign of depravity. Now that many gay people have looked around, decided that stable monogamy is a more satisfying way to go, and want in on the whole marriage thing, they're against that too. This lays bare the religious fundamentalists' true game. It isn't about protecting marriage. It's simple antipathy toward gay people. They will demonize and try to sweep us under the rug no matter what we try to do.

Fourth, we don't live in a theocracy, where religious texts dictate our civil laws. If you want that, move to Iran.

Nature: "People know in their hearts there is a natural order". Except for, you know, the gays. They don't know this in their hearts...their hearts are telling them to love the "wrong" people. But they don't count. "Nature attempts to give children a mother and father. We need to listen to that". Have these people ever considered that gays and lesbians are God's answer to orphans and other kids who need adoption (including all the unloved accidents that straight people carelessly have)?

THE CHILDREN...WILL SOMEBODY PLEASE THINK OF THE CHILDREN! (thank you Helen Lovejoy): So...all social science research that has ever existed shows that kids do better in a home with their own married mom and dad, an "intact" family. They allege "this isn't disputed as credible research". I'd be inclined to agree, to the extent that kids do well in stable homes with loving parents vs. unstable homes with abusive or apathetic parents. But the gender of said parents is inconsequential. This part of the video got my blood boiling. They claim children from "intact families" are less likely to be violent and anti-social, use drugs, get pregnant, be physically and sexually abused, run away from home, and be delinquent in school. The implication is that kids of gay parents will end up doing all those things. How profoundly insulting.

Change Is Possible: Sexual orientation is not an innate, immutable characteristic. Apparently we are kidding ourselves that we are gay because the media is starting to portray us positively and as normal human beings rather than as perverts or as campy caricatures to be laughed at. And, of course, Earll has examples to prove this. Her black and Asian friends, to her knowledge, have never stopped being so. Her gay friends, on the other hand, have been changed and now live with spouses and children...how liberating! Except that even the organizations whose raison d'être has always been to "cure the gay" are now backpedaling. Exodus International's president is on record recently saying reparative therapy is a crock; the "best" gay men and woman can hope for is to suppress their sexual orientations and have mixed-orientation marriages. Also, Earll entirely neglects to mention the countless gay people scarred, damaged, and made suicidal by fruitless therapy sessions, and the broken families that result from living an unsustainable lie. And if that wasn't enough, Robert Spitzer, the psychologist whose research gave ammunition and a scientific basis to anti-gay crusaders, retracted and apologized for his work a few months ago, saying it was flawed.

To be clear, sexuality is extraordinarily complex, and I'm hesitant to say change is never possible. Sexuality is a continuum, and I'd never presume to tell anyone who they can or cannot be attracted to (so long as they are of age and consenting). If you've always thought yourself to be straight but fall in love with someone of your same gender, great. If you identify as gay but something clicks with someone of the opposite gender, equally great. Love should be celebrated. But of course I 100% oppose using the "change" argument as a defense for the anti-gay crowd.

Religious Freedom: sexual freedom is trumping religious freedom, so they say. People of faith are being penalized. Adoption agencies, wedding planners...the poor Christians are under ATTACK, being forced to compromise their beliefs! THE OUTRAGE! "When you hear (sexual orientation) brought into the realm of non-discrimination ordinances, it sounds good. Nobody wants anyone to be discriminated against. But the way it plays out, it discriminates against Christians. We need to point that out every time we can. It's a powerful argument." Powerful isn't the word I'd chose. More like the classic oppressor-turns-victim ploy.

Money: in some ways this argument was the most insulting. Challenging state marriage amendments in court is "expensive"; we shouldn't bother fighting for equality before the law because states are cash-strapped. The legal battle to overturn Prop 8 in California has cost $10 million. Umm, do they know how large state and federal budgets are? Ten million is a drop in the bucket. And more importantly, civil rights aren't something to be monetized, just like they shouldn't be subject to a popular vote. That's why they are rights.

As infuriating as it was to watch this video and listen to the inane arguments, it's important for us to know what people like them are thinking.