MARRIAGE AS A NORM: Mark Barton replies to Maggie Gallagher

Maggie Gallagher:

For me the question of what SSM will do to marriage is primary. Advocates of gay marriage tend to secretly or openly believe that opponents are motivated primarily by opposition to homosexuality. For me the question of what SSM will do to marriage is primary. [...] I don't see marriage as a "right." I see it as a "norm" and a social institution, which means it has to have substantive content.

Mark B.: I'd have to admit that I do believe that SSM opponents tend to be motivated primarily by opposition to homosexuality. In fact I don't just believe this, I know it, because I've seen surveys that asked as much, and disapproval of homosexuality had a healthy lead over other concerns. Of course, I'd like to believe that Maggie is an exception, but whether I can accept her assurances depends on what exactly she means by"norm," something she appears to me to be terminally vague about.

A reasonable reading that would make sense of a lot of what she has to say is, "something that people quite generally should be expected to do"or perhaps "something that people who aspire to be sexually active quite generally should be expected to do." But in that case, I'm afraid I can't accept her assurances. It's not that I think she's necessarily being disingenuous, but (again, if that's what she means by "norm") I think she's badly mistaken about how thoroughly homophobic such a view is. I suggest that any view that tacitly or otherwise presumes that gay (i.e., same-sex attracted) people should be in opposite-sex relationships or not in relationships at all is quintessentially homophobic.

Of course, perhaps Maggie means something quite different by "norm," but in that case I'm at a loss. I honestly can't guess what else she could mean that would still imply that SSM was to be opposed.

posted by Eve at 4:06 PM VOTE

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