December 09, 2008
Camille Paglia: Anti-Prop. 8 gays hurting the movement
Salon's Camille Pagila -- an idiosyncratic out-of-the-closet lesbian, college professor and journalist -- thinks gay activists working to overturn California's Prop. 8 are doing themselves a disservice.
After California voters adopted Proposition 8, which amended the state Constitution to prohibit gay marriage, gay activists have launched a program of open confrontation with and intimidation of religious believers, mainly Mormons. I thought we'd gotten over the adolescent tantrum phase of gay activism, typified by ACT UP's 1989 invasion of St. Patrick's Cathedral, where the communion host was thrown on the floor. Want to cause a nice long backlash to gay rights? That's the way to do it.
I may be an atheist, but I respect religion and certainly find it far more philosophically expansive and culturally sustaining than the me-me-me sense of foot-stamping entitlement projected by too many gay activists in the unlamented past.
[...]
In their displeasure at the California vote, gay activists have fomented animosity among African-Americans who voted for Proposition 8 and who reject any equivalence between racism and homophobia.
Do gays really want to split the Democratic coalition?
[...]
Marriage may be desirable for some gay men and women, but at what cost? Activists should have focused instead on removing all impediments to equality in civil unions -- such as the unjust denial of Social Security benefits to the surviving partner in gay relationships.
Paglia's got some interesting things to say about the Muslim terror attacks in Bombay, the Clintons' odd power over Obama, Sarah Palin's post-election status, and "colorfully suffering divas," who Paglia much prefers instead of what she refers to as "bland celebutards."
Posted by Mike Lief at December 9, 2008 06:10 PM
| TrackBack