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03/10/2010
United they stand, divide us they've done in multiple falls
And now comes the part of the day where Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse acts willfully obtuse so as to wash her hands clean of the divisive state of affairs that her work foments:
"Despite what you've heard, the marriage issue is a unifying issue," she said. "That is, our opponents are always saying, 'You guys are being so divisive.' But that's not what we've found at all. What we found in San Diego, and indeed all across California, is that the marriage issue is a unifying issue, and that the people who are orthodox across all the religious traditions stand together on the issue of the definition of marriage."
Symposium battles trends that damage traditional family [Deseret News]
So wait -- the issue of civil inequality is not divisive because it unifies "pro-family" people from multiple faiths? That's like saying the stealing lunch money isn't a hurtful act since schoolyard bullies from multiple playgrounds see it as a worthy pastime!
The reality, of course, is that people like Jennifer Roback Morse (whose group is an official NOM affiliate) have chosen to be deeply divisive by pitting personal religious viewpoints against public policy. It's not surprising that they would try to distance themselves from the divisive label, since it's a thoroughly unproductive, demonstrably detrimental thing to be. But it's the truth. It's the legacy that will apply to this political movement for all time. Yes, those who work against us can find unity in their hostility towards our marriages. But contrary to what they seem to sometimes believe, the world actually expands beyond their myopic moral purview. And for those of us who look at the realm of actuality in a way that includes, oh, i don't know, ACTUALITY? Well we can easily see who in the citizenry has so diligently worked to turn American into the land of estranged, home of the schismatic, and who has simply requested that this nation's promised liberty and justice places a premium on the "for all" part!
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**MORE: After the jump is some video of Morse. A couple of things to note (beyond the obvious):
-Morse name-checking NOM's (and Carrie Prejean's) lawyer Charles LiMandri, a man who is on visual record sharing his belief that gays are all abused as kids, that drawing pictures of army tanks could possibly turn gay kids "normal," that LGBTs have a higher rate of violence, that gays are incapable/nondesirous of monogamy, and that the LGBT community's true goal is to attack religion; a man who created a Powerpoint presentation which links to uber-disgraced researcher Paul Cameron to support anti-gay claims, and even refers to "sodomy" as a "crime against nature"; and someone who has referred to marriage equality as "societal suicide" and "sacrilege," and claimed that "the destruction of the concept of gender is perhaps Satan's greatest accomplishment."
-Morse acting like the Iowa ruling doesn't at all speak to the matter of child protection, even though the unanimous ruling gives a thoroughly thoughtful examination of the kid issue from both the plaintiff's and defendant's position.
Have a look:
**MORE: Here she is again working the disingenuous "unifying" line. Right after she refers to this matter as "serious combat":
Your thoughts
Great analogy on the bullies!
Posted by: DN | Mar 10, 2010 11:00:52 AM
You know, people rarely talk about how unifying it was to turn all the German people from disparate walks of life against the victims of the Holocaust. (Yeah, you take that Godwin's law comments section, take it hard!)
I was interested in what exactly Ms. Morse has a PhD in, so I traipsed on over to wikipedia where I found this lovely statement:
Jennifer Roback Morse is the President and Founder of the Ruth Institute, a project of the National Organization for Marriage for the promotion of marriage and the opposition to same-sex marriage. The Institute's mission is to "make marriage cool" by re-introducing to society the idea of lifelong, committed marriage.
You know what I find is the fastest way to make something cool? Tie it to oppressive orthodox religion.
Posted by: JT | Mar 10, 2010 11:32:58 AM
Okay, now I am really offended at how increasingly myopic the Christian vitriol is becoming, especially when they dare to declare that their views are representative of ALL religions! WTF?! They certainly don't represent MINE! In fact, if I remember correctly, the Mormons stated this, too, in the Hawaii Supreme Court attempting to justify their definition of anti-Gay marriage inequality before DOMA was handed down to us. So, ya' know what happened? A local sect of Buddhists got involved and directly challenged them, affirming that their views are NOT representative of "ALL religions"! In fact, I am so offended, I am seriously thinking of trying to do something similar here in Iowa with LUV Iowa and the Baptists (all of whom are coming from a bigoted religious-centered place)!!! Hell, I bet that, even if I were straight, solely as a result of my religion alone, several members from LUV Iowa would declare that I don't deserve the right to get married! I would absolutely bet money on that!
Posted by: Wade MacMorrighan | Mar 10, 2010 11:39:41 AM
"So wait -- the issue of civil inequality is not divisive because it unifies "pro-family" people from multiple faiths?"
While I certainly agree with everything you've said, I think that Morse is actually affirming something much more telling. That being that while the religious love to hate on the gays, they also love (beyond what words are capable of describing) the active act of hating every other religion that doesn't teach exactly what they subscribe to. She fully admits that religions serve one unstated purpose, and that is to allow the supremacists from any one religion to castigate those supremacists from every other religion.
The admission that they can barely act civilly to those in other religions, unless (UNLESS) they mutually come together, under a flag of a shared hatred toward another minority group. That shared hatred of LGBTs is the only force strong enough for them to momentarily put aside their hatred of each other.
So, it is a unifying issue in the détente sense of the word, albeit temporary and superficial; and revolving solely around their mutual hatred of us.
Posted by: Dick Mills | Mar 10, 2010 12:26:11 PM
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