First published in Between the Lines, May 18, 2006. Last week Pope Benedict spoke out against gay marriage and civil unions. “Only the rock of total and irrevocable love between a man and a woman is capable of being the foundation of building a society that becomes a home for all mankind,” the pope declared, […]
The Pope’s Impotent Argument Read More »
First published in Between the Lines on March 23, 2006. In his nationally syndicated column of March 17, Charles Krauthammer uses the HBO series “Big Love” (about a modern-day polygamist family in Utah) as a springboard to telling gay-rights advocates “I told you so.” Krauthammer writes: In an essay 10 years ago, I pointed out
Polygamy Illogic Strikes Again Read More »
First published in Between the Lines on February 26, 2006 I have just completed a week’s worth of same-sex marriage debates with Glenn Stanton of Focus on the Family. During the debates, Stanton made an excellent case in favor of traditional heterosexual marriage. I really mean that. What he did not do—what he utterly failed
Left-Handed Desks and Same-Sex Marriages Read More »
First published in Between the Lines on February 9, 2006 As I embark upon a week’s worth of same-sex marriage debates with Glenn Stanton of Focus on the Family, I am bracing myself for his arguments. (There’s a useful summary of his position here.) In every debate we’ve had, Stanton has brought up Jonathan Yarbrough
Open Relationships and Double Standards Read More »
First published as “Angry Lesbians and Right-Wing Nutcases” in Between the Lines on January 26, 2006 In a few weeks I’ll be doing a “Michigan tour” debating same-sex marriage with Glenn Stanton of Focus on the Family. People sometimes ask me whether I ever encounter hostile audience members at these debates (I do). “Which kind
Debating the Indefensible? Read More »
First published in Between the Lines, January 11, 2006 Stanley Kurtz is at it again. In the cover story for the December 26th Weekly Standard—“Here Come the Brides: Plural Marriage is Waiting in the Wings”—Kurtz cites a recent Dutch “triple wedding” as further evidence for the slippery slope from gay marriage to polygamy. (The Netherlands
Kurtz’s Confusions Read More »
First published in Between the Lines on December 22, 2005. It was the kind of film that changes lives. And it changed mine—seeing a true gay love story, playing in major theaters, with a passionate performance by a talented young actor in a role quite different from anything he had tackled before. I’m talking, of
The Brokeback Buzz Read More »
First published October 27, 2005, in Between the Lines. During a recent debate in Bar Harbor, Maine, I was confronted with a seemingly novel argument against same-sex marriage. Rev. John Rankin of the Theological Education Institute of Hartford, Connecticut, claimed that same-sex marriage, far from being a civil right, actually undermines the very foundation of
Same-Sex Marriage: The End of Rights? Read More »
First published April 14, 2005, in Between the Lines. In recent weeks I have been traveling the country doing lectures and debates on gay marriage. The first was at Texas A&M University, a school I hadn’t visited since 1992. At that time I was working on my Ph.D. at the University of Texas at Austin,
Marrying Sheep and Cell Phones — Not Read More »
First published January 20, 2005, in Between the Lines Some of the nastiest mail I receive is not from right-wing homophobes, or even bitter ex-boyfriends, but from members of our own community who think I’m not progressive enough. For example, shortly after I argued in Second Thoughts on Civil Unions that we ought to fight
Civil Discourse on Civil Unions Read More »