First published at 365gay.com on May 28, 2010 I hesitate to write another column about Elena Kagan, President Obama’s nominee to replace Justice Stevens, and someone whose putative sexuality has been discussed ad nauseam by people (like me) who aren’t in a position to know the first thing about it. It’s true that when people […]
What about Asexuality? Read More »
First published at 365gay.com on April 30, 2010 If I’ve asked it once I’ve asked it a hundred times: how does marriage equality hurt heterosexuals? Recently I posed the question yet again to Maggie Gallagher, outgoing president of the National Organization for Marriage (NOM), as she visited my ethics class at Wayne State University via
The Message of Marriage Read More »
First published in Between The Lines News on April 15, 2010 Those who argue that same-sex parenting “deprives” a child of its mother or father sometimes ask, “How would you feel if your mother or father were taken away?” My answer to that question is, of course, “I’d feel terrible.” But that fact scarcely settles
Gay Parents and Biological Bonds Read More »
First published at 365gay.com on March 26, 2010 Recent reports about students in Mississippi and Georgia seeking to bring same-sex dates to prom stirred memories of my own prom experience. The year was 1987. I was “straight” then—or so I convinced myself. I knew I had “gay feelings” (as I put it), I knew I
First published at 365gay.com on March 19, 2010 It is sometimes said, “Once a Catholic, always a Catholic.” Which may be why the recent Colorado story about Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish School, which expelled two pre-schoolers because their parents are lesbians, saddens me. Although I’m now an atheist, I was raised Catholic and attended
How the Sacred Heart Decision Makes Sense Read More »
First published at 365gay.com on February 26, 2010 Okay—so I promise that this is my last column for a while on the definition of marriage. Four out of five in a row is enough. http://www.365gay.com/archive/?id=15&logo=t But I’ve learned a lot from writing these, especially because of comments from various marriage-equality opponents. Three points stick out.
What’s Love Got to Do With It? Read More »
First published at 365gay.com on February 19, 2010 An opponent writes, “What’s YOUR definition of marriage? If you’re going to use a word, you need a definition of the word.” I doubt that. After all, most English speakers can competently use the word “yellow,” but ask them to define the term (without merely pointing to
First published at 365gay.com on February 5, 2010 Brian Brown throws around the term “irrational” quite a bit. Brown is the Executive Director of the National Organization for Marriage (NOM), an anti-gay-marriage organization (Maggie Gallagher is its president). I first came across his name last summer when the Washington Post profiled him, describing him as
Why Conservatives Should Want Gay Parents to Marry Read More »
First published at 365gay.com on January 22, 2010 Not long ago a friend approached me for relationship advice. He’s a white guy who was contemplating dating a black guy, and, as he put it, “I thought you could give me some insight since you’re in an interracial relationship.” His query took me by surprise. To
First published at 365gay.com on December 18, 2009 Allow me to share a favorite holiday story. It was late-November 1989, a year after I first came out. I had been dating a guy named Michael for over a month, which made him (in my mind, at least) my first “real” boyfriend. I was twenty and
A Story of Comfort and Joy Read More »