First published at 365gay.com on April 10, 2009 Spring arrived for gays this year, not with daffodils and cherry blossoms, but with Iowa and Vermont. First Iowa, where the state Supreme Court unanimously struck down the state’s ban on same-sex marriage. (Don’t adjust your screen. The words “Iowa” and “unanimously” are really in that sentence.) […]
First published at 365gay.com on April 4, 2009 Readers of this column occasionally complain that I’m too nice to our enemies. They may have a point. I’m an easygoing person by nature. It’s not a deliberate strategy; it’s just who I am. Most of the time, the trait serves me well, though there are times
The Trouble with Common Ground Read More »
First published at 365gay.com on March 23, 2009 Recent discussions of various civil-union proposals have revived some familiar questions, including “Why limit such recognition to couples, as opposed to larger groups?” and “Why limit it to romantic/sexual couples, as opposed to other interdependent relationships?” Such questions come from various quarters, including both friends and foes
Why Not Plural Marriage? Read More »
First published at Between The Lines News on March 12, 2009 Recently I wrote about a proposed compromise by David Blankenhorn, who opposes gay marriage, and Jonathan Rauch, who supports it. On the Blankenhorn/Rauch proposal, the federal government would recognize individual states’ same-sex marriages or civil unions (under the name “civil unions”) and grant them
Strange Bedfellows Read More »
First published at 365gay.com on February 28, 2009 There is something very satisfying about ideological purity and the righteous indignation that often accompanies it. It can be fun to paint one’s opponents as crazy and stupid (and sometimes they make it all too easy to do so). Less fun, yet potentially more productive, are attempts
Can We Find Common Ground on Gay Marriage? Read More »
First published at 365gay.com on February 13, 2009 Two decades ago, when I first came out of the closet, my mother had an irritating habit of referring to my boyfriend as my “friend.” You could almost hear the scare-quotes around the word as she would speak it. “This is John’s, um, ‘friend.’” When I complained
The Power of Words Read More »
First published at 365gay.com on February 6, 2009 I’ve written in this column of my friendship with Glenn Stanton [http://www.365gay.com/opinion/corvino-friends-with-the-enemy/], a Focus on the Family employee whom I regularly debate on same-sex marriage. There are different kinds of friendship, of course, not to mention different levels and layers. We’re not “best buds,” but we’re not
Hospitality, not Homosexuality Read More »
First published at 365gay.com on January 16, 2009 Why are our opponents so obsessed with butt sex? I’ve personally pondered this question more times than is probably healthy. It occurred to me a few weeks ago when a poster on a conservative blog complained that gays “expect us to approve of butt sex and call
Gay Sex Isn’t Weird. Sex Is. Read More »
First published at 365gay.com on December 19, 2008 Marjorie Christoffersen seems like a nice enough person by all reports, including those of gay friends and acquaintances. But Christoffersen made a $100 donation to Prop. 8, which stripped marriage rights from gays and lesbians in California. Now some customers of El Coyote, the landmark Los Angeles
Margie Christoffersen’s Freedom – and Ours Read More »
First published at Between the Lines News on December 18, 2008 Glenn Stanton is a friend of mine. He’s also badly wrong about same-sex marriage, and I tell him so—frequently, publicly, and sharply. Glenn works at Focus on the Family, a premier organization of the religious right. He and I regularly debate same-sex marriage at