The latest tactic from the far right in opposition to gay marriage is that it will somehow destroy free speech. Huh? This is now David Frum’s gambit. All of these arguments rely upon the enforcement of oppressive hate crime laws. But the problem here is the hate crime law, not equal marriage rights! You should certainly be able to live in a country where marriage is available to gays and straights alike and in which some straights are perfectly free to express how repulsive they find the notion of homosexuals having legally protected relationships. I’m for equality and free speech. But the issues should not be conflated. Andrew Stuttaford also makes an obvious numerical point. Let’s say that the gay presence in the population is 3 percent. Let’s say that marriage will be half as likely for gays as straights. Out of 1000 marriages, around 15 are therefore likely to be same-sex. Of those fifteen, ten will probably be lesbian. What Stanley Kurtz is trying to argue is that 5 gay male marriages are more likely to affect the 995 other marriages than the other way round. To put it politely, this is highly implausible. The almost certain effect of same-sex marriage will be to mainstream gays, not radicalize straights. Only the truly paranoid could think otherwise. Yet Kurtz and others would actually doctor the U.S. Constitution to prevent this tiny conservative social reform from happening.
THE LIES OF MICHAEL MOORE: Even in Europe, they’re catching up with him.
The Dish 