Month: June 2011

Richard Florida captions:

The list … shows the 15 metros that have the largest percentage of same-sex couples raising children under 18 years of age. The densest concentrations of such families are not necessarily in the places where you'd expect to find them. Especially surprising are the metros that don't make the cut — like San Francisco and New York.

Notice how many red-state metro regions make the list. One guess why: conservative states' social pressures produce gays who are more inclined to raise families (an example of the majority influencing the minority far more than vice versa). And look at Texas: leading the way for gay families in America.

Yglesias takes issue with Douthat's column on sex-selective abortion (ie the abortion of girls because they are girls). In response, Ross repeats his main argument:

My point was that the story of sex-selective abortion creates more difficulties — both intellectually and, I would submit, emotionally — for abortion-rights supporters than it does for those of us on the pro-life side of the argument. For one thing, it presents a policy problem: If the right to abortion is a fundamental human liberty, how do you address sex selection without infringing dramatically on the right to privacy?

Erica Grieder tackles one of Douthat's weaker points. I think his main one is inarguable.

My defense of Obama on marriage equality – and gay equality – is here.

Walden, Tennessee, 7.20 am

Saudi Arabia announced yesterday that it will starting withdrawing some of its troops from Bahrain, believing the reform movement to be mostly quashed. Mehdi Khalaji steps back to analyze the political fallout for Iran:

[T]he Bahrain crisis has hurt the Islamic Republic's relations with Arab governments and endangered its image among Shiites, given Tehran's ineptitude in providing help for Shiite dissidents and protecting them from Sunni violence. Many Arab Shiites expect Iran to act as the protector of their coreligionists throughout the region. And several groups of Bahraini clerics have written to Khamenei urging him to help the island's Shiites. … Yet there is no evidence that Khamenei has responded to this appeal.

Overall, the Bahraini crisis has been an important test of Iran's pro-Shiite propaganda. The Islamic Republic's policy toward Shiite communities in the region has shown itself to be quite complicated and increasingly muddled. The result has been mounting Shiite suspicion toward Iran — not only in Bahrain, but also in places such as southwestern Saudi Arabia — regarding the extent to which they can rely on Tehran to assist them in the event of confrontation with their governments.

Chris Christie opposes marriage equality. Chait finds the governor's stance exceedingly weak:

In place of any attempt to justify his opposition, Christie simply restates it over and over. Christie argues, in order, that there's a civil union law, that gay marriage failed before, that civil unions will continue, that he's "not a fan," that it's not something he supports, that he believes in one man-one-woman, that it's his view, and that he won't sign a gay marriage bill.

What's revealing is that these are ways to avoid the issue at hand, rather than engage it. To say simply "I believe civil marriage is between a man and a woman" is not an argument. It's also irrelevant in six states and the nation's capital. You can believe what you want, but my marriage license is identical to any straight person's in both my residences. What you have to do is explain why you believe two gay people cannot and should not be married in terms beyond mere sectarian dogma. We live in a republic, not a church. And those arguments, when tested, have failed logical inspection. A reader muses:

The real question of leadership is what is preferred: Christie's loud, sometimes over-the-top performances, or Cuomo's understated, press-on-till-it's done – but done quietly – style? Who knows, it could be C vs. C in 2016.  For my money, considering what he's achieved versus his neighbor, I'm gonna go with Cuomo.

(Photo: A young boy waves a flag during the 2011 NYC LGBT Pride March on the streets of Manhattan on June 26, 2011 in New York City. Thousands of revelers had reason to celebrate since New York state legislators approved a bill legalizing same-sex marriage which Governor Cuomo signed in to law on Friday June 24. By Jemal Countess/Getty Images)

“[John Lennon] was a very different person back in 1979 and 80 than he’d been when he wrote Imagine. By 1979 he looked back on that guy and was embarrassed by that guy’s naivete,” – Fred Seaman, Lennon’s former personal assistant.

Talk about an evolving stance.

"I said, 'you remember Bristol, what we talk about on the fishing boat, stays on the fishing boat,'" – Sarah Palin, on whether she's made a decision to run for President.