John Stossel, as a libertarian, is often quite wrong about things, but it’s funny when he’s forced to endure the mendacious ramblings of NOM’s Brian Brown, and even his reaction to it is “come again?”
Brown says gay marriage threatens marriage between a man and a woman. I asked him to explain.
“Marriage is a public good,” he said. “When you redefine marriage, you redefine it for everyone. In states that have redefined marriage, we’ve seen serious consequences, ranging from what is taught in schools — kids in first grade in Massachusetts are taught that it’s the same thing to grow up and marry a boy or a girl — to what happens to religious organizations or organizations that just believe marriage is the union of a man and a woman. … You see Catholic Charities’ adoption agency essentially being forced out of being able to adopt kids because the state said it is discriminating.”
Whoa. Those are three separate points. I don’t see a problem with the first: If they redefine marriage to include gays, that doesn’t diminish my marriage. And if kids are taught that gay marriage is OK, so what?
[…]
“Deconstructing marriage is a very bad idea,” said Brown. “We see the rising rates of divorce and unwed motherhood. There is a direct correlation. If you look at any social indicators — children raised without mothers and fathers — you see higher rates of incarceration, juvenile delinquency that cost the state money.”
Sorry, but I still don’t see what divorce and unwed motherhood have to do with gay marriage. It’s mostly straight people who are doing the divorcing and unwed mothering.
[…]
“The state should support what is true and good and beautiful,” Brown countered. “And it’s true and good and beautiful that marriage is the union of a man and a woman. Men and women are unique and special.”
I still don’t get his argument.
It’s very simple, John. Brian doesn’t have an argument, at least not in the grown-up sense. All he knows is that he and Maggie Gallagher have a deep psychological problem with gay people, and that airing their personal issues loudly, in public, has proven to be quite profitable. The first mistake when dealing with people like NOM is to pretend that we’re dealing with mature, intelligent adults. It’s sorta like the problem Obama has when he deals with the Republican party…
It’s better to handle them as if you’re dealing with a particularly ill-behaved, dishonest third grader and then work downward based on their future behavior.
[h/t Jeremy]
