In the past two days, I've grown increasingly dismayed by the reactions of both the Right and the Left to The Massachusetts Supreme Court's decision to affirm gay marriage in that state. So, now, in the spirit of Lecturin' Joe Lieberman, I'm going to give a stern reprimand to both sides of the aisle:
To the Republicans:
Whatever happened to the "state's rights" line? I guess "state's rights" only applies if the state's Right, as it were. Anyhow, I know you guys are planning to make a wedge issue out of this in the presidential election, and in a way, I don't blame you, because it'll probably work pretty well. But know, in doing this, that you are on the wrong side of history - that in 20-30 years, people will look back at you the same way we do now at those who were opposed to biracial marriage. Don't believe me? Then explain why a recent Newsweek poll found that 31% of so-called "South Park" Republicans, the supposed future of the party, support gay marriage. (which may not seem that high, but do consider that support for gay marriage among young Republicans was probably hovering around 0% a decade ago). So, play this to your advantage if you must, but do recognize that it will in all likelihood come back to haunt you, the way opposition to segregation haunts the party still today.
To the Democrats:
Here's a logical conundrum I've encountered on the left: A favorite truism of liberals is "poor whites have more in common with poor blacks than they do with rich whites." And a favorite issue liberals like to ponder is "why is homophobia so prevalent among poor blacks?" Yet, when it comes to the issue of homophobia among poor whites, liberals don't bother to ponder its existence at all.
In fact, liberals seem to think they already know why working-class whites are hostile to gay rights: it's that those braindead, bible-thumping hillbillies are incurable homophobes. That seems to be the consensus on left-wing comment boards, anyhow. I've even encountered a few commenters whose excitement over the ruling owed to the fact that it would "piss off those Southern hicks." Now just imagine if someone had posted that he or she was excited that the ruling would "piss off those ghetto blacks."
The left has made it clear that they'd like to win the support of "Nascar Dads," and I think they might start by not using working class white resistance to gay marriage as simply an excuse to bash "hateful white trash." If liberals are willing to treat homophobia in the black community as somehow symptomatic of a lack of economic opportunities afforded working-class African-Americans, why not do the same when it comes to the white community? Ever consider that working-class whites might resent the fact that liberals seem more concerned in fighting for the rights of a small minority than in addressing their increasingly bleak economic prospects? (the sad part about this is that Democrats are in fact interested in fighting economic injustice, but their unfortunate tendency to label working class whites "rednecks" has allowed Republicans, rather ironically, to paint them as the party of the 'elites') That in fact they're not the wild-eyed, "God Hates Fags"-sign-waving bible-thumpers that liberals would like to write them off as, but rather an oppressed people (economically speaking) interested in getting a little justice for themselves?
Democrats so far have done a good job of establishing themselves as the people's party in this year's race, but if they want to really solidify that reputation amongst voters, they're going to have to stop their knee-jerk bashing of "hillbillies" every time it turns out that working class whites aren't sufficiently P.C. And I think there's no better issue on which to start doing this than gay marriage, especially because, as I said above, Republicans are going to do their best to make this into a monumental wedge. The Democrat line on resistance to gay rights should be "we're doing this because we believe in justice, and we're going to be fighting for it on your behalf, too" not "shut up you homophobic hicks!"
Anyhow, that's it. Lecture's over. Now go clean up your rooms, both of you.
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