Same-sex Marraige: The culture war is over

[Graeme]

Same-sex marriage: the culture war is over

An interesting commentary that's probably not applicable outside Australia, but I thought it was worth posting here. In particular, I was intrigued by the comment that the conservatives appear to be winning the culture war regarding same-sex marriage in Australia. That doesn't mean what you may think it means... have a read and see for yourself.

For those that don't know, The Age is a major mainstream newspaper here in Melbourne. The article was also posted online at the Sydney Morning Herald website.

[DesDownunder]

The author of the article, Gay Alcorn, misses the point of equality. Whether we assimilate or not is hardly the reason for seeking equality. Being recognised by a society to have all the rights that everyone else has, without being ridiculed, is the equality issue. The creation of separate but equal is what the author does not understand as limiting the rights of all of us, gay or straight.

The idea of a culture war 'wedge' is a straw man which the author uses to go some way in an attempt to downplay the human rights equality argument for same sex marriage. Moreover, does she really believe that the de facto recognition of couples, currently available to same sex people in Australia, is sufficient to stop all the bullying and discrimination that LGBTQ people suffer every day? In my opinion, Alcorn is trying to say that same sex marriage is neither worth seeking or a cause for recognising the value of equality human rights. She is short changing us when she says that we only want to belong and just be ordinary...that's not even what straight people want.

[Rigel]

The culture wars really must be over! In the past week, two states--Rhode Island and then Delaware--legalized same-sex marriage. Admittedly, they're small states--geographically, they're the 2 smallest of the 50 states. The news was available for those who follow it, and the LGBT press certainly celebrated, but it's interesting to note that mainstream media did not consider these developments headline news. I think that's actually good news, as the normalcy of same-sex marriage takes over American consciousness. We'll see if Minnesota and Illinois generate big headlines in the next few weeks, but the subject is likely to lie low until the US Supreme Court speaks out on its cases.

--Rigel

[The Pecman]

Yes, I was also glad to see that two more states recognized gay marriage. But there's always the chance that the Supreme Court could enforce Federal law against gay marriage, which would trump state law. My hope is that they'll consider this a basic equal rights issue and go in that direction; my fear is that they won't rule on it and will say "let the states decide," which avoids answering the question.