He claims I have become a radical on this issue. I haven’t. My position remains what it was. It’s the Republican party that has become radicalized. Conservatives who are ambivalent about gay issues have every right to be so. But when a law is passed that bans even private contractual agreements between two gay people in a relationship, and when allegedly tolerant social conservatives ignore it, it’s fair to ask whether they can be believed when they say they have nothing against gay couples per se. And there is something deeply insulting when someone says that another minority’s interests and rights are beyond his concern. If I wrote that I really couldn’t care one way or another if laws were passed directly discriminating against Jews, since I’m not Jewish and it doesn’t really affect me, how would that sound? And if I told an angry Jew that he’s become radicalized and shouldn’t push it or he’ll merely ensure more hostility, how would that sound? If you think I’m exaggerating, here’s the law in question:
A civil union, partnership contract or other arrangement between persons of the same sex purporting to bestow the privileges or obligations of marriage is prohibited. Any such civil union, partnership contract or other arrangement entered into by persons of the same sex in another state or jurisdiction shall be void in all respects in Virginia and any contractual rights created thereby shall be void and unenforceable.
One of Jonah’s readers says this is no big deal. But by making even a “partnership contract or other arrangement … void and unenforceable,” Virginia is denying gay couples any legal protections at all in as broad and vague a fashion as possible. Jonah thinks I’ve become radicalized? Isn’t it time he looked at what is happening in his own party?
HERITAGE RESPONDS: They have apparently removed the pseudo-science of homophobe Paul Cameron from their database. Good for them.