Barber claims CO partnerships will cause gay 'wildfire'; we say: 'burn, baby, burn'

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10/30/2006

by Jeremy Hooper

When we read an introductory paragraph like this:

You can put a pig in a mini-skirt, high heals and lipstick and call him Angelina Jolie, but he's still a pig just the same. That's just what pro-homosexual activists are trying to do this election season in Colorado. No, they haven't partnered with PETA to raise awareness about the systematic discrimination of "transgendered" farm animals; but what they have done is enter into a clever and disingenuous game of political semantics relative to the so-called "gay-marriage" debate.

...the first thought that comes to mind is: when referring to a shoe, it's actually "heel," not "heal." But after correcting the homophonic error, our second thought is: By trying to obtain domestic partner rights in Colorado, we gay activists are trying to pass off a pig as Angelina Jolie?! And here we thought we were only trying to pass off our relationships as less stigmatized, more respected, and somewhat legally protected!

However, gays trying to sneak same-sex marriage into the state of Colorado via domestic partnerships is exactly the argument behind a column J. Matt Barber has written for conserva-news source WorldNetDaily. And in making his claims, Barber pulls out all the stops. He says of gay activists who are backing Colorado's domestic partnership push (Referendum I):

If "Domestic Partnerships" are legalized via ballot initiative in Colorado (a traditionally red state), then it's guaranteed that the homosexual lobby will eagerly fan the flames of pseudo-tolerance, until similar initiatives have spread like wildfire and are placed on the ballot in every single state in the union.

Don't be fooled by the homosexual lobby's benign language and incessant use of their favorite straw man – equality. Homosexuals can easily obtain all the legal protections they claim to seek through various legal instruments such as a living will, power of attorney and other contractual relationships.

No, the agenda is unfortunately much more sinister than that. It seeks not only to blur the lines between male and female, "gay" and straight; but desperately seeks to obliterate all distinctions between male and female, "gay" and straight. It seeks to entirely undermine, if not destroy, traditional notions of marriage and family.

Okay, let's stop here. Whether or not domestic partnerships become legal in Colorado, we are gonna keep pushing for full recognition of our relationship until we achieve the inevitable goal. Even though Referendum I is only about basic legal rights, few of us on the pro-gay side would deny that we do want full marriage rights. So while it's fear-mongeringly convenient to warn voters that "the homosexual lobby will eagerly fan the flames of pseudo-tolerance" if we achieve DP success in the Centennial State, the truth is that we will never stop pushing for ACTUAL TOLERANCE even if every one of our pro-gay initiatives end in defeat! So Mr. Barber, don't make it look like you've found out our secret agenda by claiming we're seeking worldwide acceptance of our lives and loves. We're fans of gay marriage; forgive us if we've been unclear about that!

As for Mr. Barber's claim that via "living will, power of attorney and other contractual relationships" we can obtain legal protections, we only have to say: "YOU go jump through expensive hoops in order to protect your family!" Yes, we can obtain many protections via these legal routes, but we shouldn't have to! He accuses us a using equality as a "straw man," yet then proceeds to suggest that if we want to protect our relationships and families, then we should follow a path vastly dissimilar from our heterosexual counterparts! What we are seeking is the ability to obtain the rights and benefits of legal recognition in ways EQUAL to our straight brothers and sisters! Equality is not our "straw man"; it's the ultimate goal of our quest to show that gays didn't "draw the short straw" of life and shouldn't be treated as if they have! Suggesting that we gay activists are seeking goals other than societal parity is an example of our opposition "grasping at straws."

Regarding Mr. Barber's claims that our "sinister" agenda is actually "to obliterate all distinctions between male and female, gay and straight" and to destroy "traditional notions of marriage and family" -- again, good duplicitous fear-mongering! However, if you remove the offensive rhetoric and actually listen to what gay activists are telling you, you would see that our actual "agenda" in the marriage fight is simply for our government to stop barring us from a civil institution to which we should, by EVERY REASONED INTERPRETATION, be permitted! The whole argument that we are affecting others' relationships by having our own recognized has become completely laughable at this point! It's like they've said it so many times, they don't even know what they're saying any more. They just know that this is the message they're all expected to espouse, so they just absent-mindedly make the claim without thinking about what they're actually saying. If they actually stopped and analyzed the idea that two dudes or chicas getting hitched would somehow convince straights en masse to give up on their own forms of legal love, then they might realize that the "gays will destroy hetero marriage" claims actually say more about the fragility of their own "traditional" bonds than they do about ours!

Moving on, Barber continues his argument by saying:

So-called "homosexual marriage" – whether it's called "same-sex marriage," "civil unions" or "domestic partnerships" – is counterfeit marriage. It will never be true marriage. Homosexual activists know this in their heart of hearts. But if the law of the land recognizes "homosexual marriage" as equal to legitimate marriage, then by default, marriage is rendered pointless. If everything is marriage, than nothing is marriage at all.

This is the mission underlying Colorado's Referendum I, and this will be the mission behind the deluge of similar state initiatives sure to follow should Referendum I become law. It's up to the voters of Colorado to dump a bucket of cold water on this "gay marriage" spark before it's allowed to engulf and destroy marriage as we know it – before it's allowed to wipe out marriage as it has been defined for thousands of years.

It's up to the voters of Colorado to vote no on Referendum I. America will be watching.

Hmm..we know in our heart of hearts that our marriage will "never be true marriage?" Wow, Mr. Barber -- you must speak "our heart" much more fluently than we do! Because what we hear our own blood-pumping organ telling us is that our love is just as real and just as worthy as anyone else's! In fact, the ones who are ignoring reality are the ones who pretend like homosexuality is some of unnatural coupling...that just so happens to have been quite prevalent in every single species throughout every part of history! If gay marriage is legalized, that doesn't render marriage pointless; it simply renders marriage accessible to all loving duos!

Mr. Barber, it must be really tough arguing for your side. Here you are trying desperately to convince voters to vote against legalized domestic partnerships in Colorado, and your main way of doing so is by scaring folks into the big, scary gay marriage monster that is soon to eat your family's soul. Why not just use actual legal basis to tell voters WHY domestic partnerships should be opposed? Why not tell us exactly WHY and HOW you can rationally deny same-sex, taxpaying couples the same set of rights and benefits as their heterosexual peers? Why do you guys always have to resort to fearful predictions of how we gays are going to turn society on its ear via our legally-sanctioned "I dos?"

Well, it's simple, Mr. Barber. Flawed rhetoric is the only leg you guys have to stand on! You're right, Mr. Barber -- America is watching. And with every passing day, they are becoming more and more aware of the countless "straw men" that comprise you guys' hollow arguments!

Vote yes on Referendum I, Colorado!

'Gay marriage' spark to spread wildfire? [WorldNet]

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