funeralxempire wrote:
old_comedywriter wrote:
And it's my opinion that "gay marriage" was pushed through because the far right refused to allow them the right of civil unions.
That was my perception at the time. The right was so focused on fighting with moderates who felt that civil unions being passed as legislation was the only appropriate way to achieve the goal that they got caught flat-footed by the more radical position being upheld, and suddenly both centrist liberals and the right had to repivot around the more radical position becoming reality.
Sadly moderate liberals still feel entitled to condescend to the left despite how poorly selling out 80% of the way before the discussion even starts has worked so far.
Ironically, though same-sex marriage may have seemed "more radical" to folks outside the LGBTQ+ community, the push for same-sex marriage came initially from the right wing of the gay rights movement: folks like Andrew Sullivan, Jonathan Ruach, the Log Cabin Republicans, and various "gay conservative" denizens of a group blog called the Independent Gay Forum. Their primary argument for same-sex marriage, as distinct from civil unions, was that marriage would make gays more respectable.
These folks were heavily into respectability politics, to a far greater degree than the LGBTQ+ rights movement as a whole. They tended to be against the very idea of gay men and lesbians uniting with trans people in a single political movement/alliance, and they tended to disapprove of drag queens marching in gay pride parades.
Eventually, other LBBTQ+ rights activists started advocating same-sex marriage too, simply because the idea turned out to be very popular among rank-and-file lesbians and gay men. Organizations were formed specifically to advocate for "Marriage Equality."
All of this happened during a time (late 1990's through 2010 or so) when I was paying a lot of attention to LGBTQ+ politics and marched in NYC's LGBTQ+ Pride parade almost every year.
Just sharing this as a historical oddity. I was, in general, not fond of the "gay conservatives," whom I regarded as sellouts on many other issues. But even a broken clock is correct twice a day, and may sometimes even be more correct than anyone else.
_________________
- Autistic in NYC - Resources and new ideas for the autistic adult community in the New York City metro area.
- Autistic peer-led groups (via text-based chat, currently) led or facilitated by members of the Autistic Peer Leadership Group.