OK, I’ll bite despite the fact that these OT threads piss off many on the board and the beating I’m likely to take:
I’m libertarian and I voted for proposition 8. Is this a contradiction? Yes.
Here’s my logic: Morally, I’m against gay marriage. That said, I would never legislate against it by that fact alone. I am also a pragmatist, however. Even though I’m libertarian and would never want to use the state to legislate against another’s social freedoms, others don’t share that belief and are not afraid to use the strong arm of the state to legislate/infringe on mine.
The arguments of those in favor of prop 8 were not completely fanciful. The gay community has an agenda, and this agenda would have resulted in gay marriage being taught in public schools as well as relgious people/institutions being persecuted. Religous leaders would have been hauled into court for not performing same sex marriages, and tax exempt status would have been revoked on grounds of discrimination at some point in the not too distant future.
So, long story short. I have no issue with homosexuality that doesn’t impact me personally. Some of my closest friends are gay, many people I work with are gay, and I have no issue with it outside of my own moral beliefs, which I have no need to project on others.
That said, the gay community will/would seek to aggressively push it’s rights and its agenda. This would ultimately affect my kids, and religious institutions that I frequent.
The gay community needs to pause a bit. Staunchly defending one’s rights is understandable (If I was gay, I’m sure I’d do the same thing), but when it moves onto forcing that agenda onto the educations of others kids, and at times in opposition to the moral/religous beliefs of others, people understandably recoil and lash back.
That’s what happened here. Prop 8 would have never passed if it weren’t for a recognition of the law of unintended consequences. I’m confident this will be overturned in the next 10 years either by judicial fiat, or via another ballot initiative that might offer protections against some of the fears I outlined above.
