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06/15/2012
Maggie Gallagher: Orthodox Catholic
James J. Pulizzi wrote an especially smart take on the recent debate between Maggie Gallagher and Professor John Corvino. I found this snip particularly insightful:
In fact, getting from children to sex to marriage requires so many leaps that it weakens [Gallagher's] position. What if we don’t agree that sex, much less marriage, necessarily leads to children, especially in the age of birth control and couples who choose not to have children? The argument she makes to Blankenhorn is really against LGBT couples raising children, against divorce for any couple, and against contraception. It sounds more and more like an orthodox Catholic position all the time, and more and more out of step with the way people (including lay Catholics) actually conduct themselves. Gallagher’s case is a Catholic, theological one slightly disguised as a biological and secular, philosophical one. You must accept her religious premises to agree with everything that follows—the fact that Corvino (and most people) don’t accept those premises is the reason he will never agree (philosophically) with her.
FULL: John Corvino and Maggie Gallagher Discuss Same-Sex Marriage [Fractured Irrealism]
That's my general read as well. Maggie had the unique personal experience of coming into both Catholicism and conservatism at nearly the same time, happening while in her formative years as a Yale student. It's hard to say where one view ends and the other begins, and it's certainly true that there is considerable overlap between some of the staunchest Catholic teachings and the most conservative Republican positions. Although I think if you follow any of the threads that Maggie uses to weave her public policy position on gays and their unions, it always—ALWAYS!—comes back, ultimately, to her admission that she sees both gay people and their supporters as "committing several kinds of very serious sins." And this pure profession of faith does pretty much stop conversation, at least for those of us who want to engage in the actual dialogue at hand (civil marriage) and not debate personal theology.
This is why it's so important to remind folks of just how Catholic NOM really is. When you have an organization run by some of the most connected Catholics in the country, it's both impossible and illogical to ignore the fundamental rationale that underlies whatever policy position they are openly stating.
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