Not My Usual Subject Matter

I usually leave my good friend Sam to discuss gay rights issues, but this New York Times article has got me worried. You can read it here provided you have sold your soul to NYTimes.com. A couple of interesting and frightening issues emerge from this piece.

First, hypocrisy. The Right has been bashing the Left for using the Courts to persue our agenda for so long, and yet it seems they have no problems with pushing special-interest legislation and then using the courts to ensure strict enforcement. So much for personal liberty.

But more importantly, I grew up in a swing-district where most folks had lots of money (not my family, tragically) and I get the feeling that social issues kind of fell on all sides of the line. But for the most part, social issues weren't really discussed in a two-sided fashion. There was always a lot of discussion about acceptance and tolerance (good things, if you ask me) but rarely did we discuss people's god given right to discriminate, or how being gay was an affront to God. Now it seems that these discussions are beginning to take place in many states... especially the red ones.

None of this should be particularly surprising, except that the article left one very important issue unanswered... how are students reacting to these new discussions? Obviously some parents feel this is important, but chances are their kids were already indoctrinated well before this ground swell of anti-gay rhetoric. But what of the children whose parents have let their child form their own social opinions? Are they adopting this new hate?

The question is important because it alters how we respond to the current political fight. Obviously the Left is opposed to the current anti-gay marriage amendments, but I think that many (myself included) believe the urgency is not as great as the Right wants us to believe. So long as the U.S. Constitution doesn't get amended, its just a matter of time before the old guard, anti-gay populations die off, leaving political control to today's youth. I used to operate on the assumption that youth refused to buy into this new hate, and would repeal the bans as soon as they arrested control... but if the New York Times is right, and indoctrination is underway, I worry how wise it is to rely on my assumption.