One area of miscommunication in the marriage equality debate is about words like “bigot” and “homophobe.” Marriage equality opponents, quite understandably, don’t like being called bigots and homophobes. They might genuinely have nothing against lesbians and gays; some of them have good friends who are lesbian or gay, and some of them are lesbian or gay themselves.<\/p>\n
The problem here, I think, stems from two different definitions of “bigotry.” Marriage equality opponents think “bigot,” in this context, means “someone who hates lesbians and gays.”<\/p>\n
Speaking for myself, that’s only one possible meaning of “bigot” or “homophobe.” Another meaning, which is how I tend to use those words in the context of the marriage equality debate, is “someone who favors an unequal legal status for lesbians and gays.” And by that latter definition, it makes perfect sense to describe those who oppose marriage equality as homophobes and bigots.<\/p>\n
This is no different from how I view any other issue involving bigotry. To reuse an example<\/a>, consider someone in the 1960s who favored laws and rules excluding Jews from fancy country clubs. That person may have had many close Jewish friends; perhaps they only favored the exclusions because they valued the club’s longstanding traditions. But regardless of this person’s personal love for Jews, they nonetheless favored one law for gentiles and a different law for Jews, and that made them an anti-Semite.<\/p>\n Put another way, our opponents think that being a homophobe is only <\/i>about what’s in their heart. I think that being a homophobe can be about what’s in one’s heart, but it can also be about what’s in one’s policies<\/i>.<\/p>\n Of course, it may make marriage equality opponents – some of whom I quite like and respect – uncomfortable or unhappy to be described thus. I’m sorry about that; but truth doesn’t cease being true just because it makes some people uncomfortable. If the stigma bothers them that much, they can avoid it by changing their minds and favoring equality between gays and straights..<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" One area of miscommunication in the marriage equality debate is about words like “bigot” and “homophobe.” Marriage equality opponents, quite understandably, don’t like being called bigots and homophobes. They might genuinely have nothing against lesbians and gays; some of them … Continue reading