NineInchCock_160IQ said:
sadly... I think it's probably going to be a lot longer than that. Gay marriage has been banned by an overwhelming majority in almost every state that such a ban has been proposed. and Republicans use this issue just to increase friendly voter turnout because they know that people get so upset about gays getting hitched that they will get up off their butts and go to the polls just to vote for the guy who wants to put a stop to it. War killing thousands of innocents? Oil crisis about to set off global catastrophe? Global climate change? Who gives a crap... the game is on... waitaminute? Gays are getting married? holy shit.. we better get to the polls!!
Fucked up.. but true.
I was thinking about this (gay marriage) just recently, along with the other social conservative hobby-horse, abortion rights.
(Let me preface the following by saying that I'm pro-same-sex marriage, and pro-abortion on demand).
It's interesting, from a logicians point of view, that abortion rights are so much more entrenched than same-sex marriage rights. Abortion rights hinge on the conflict between the rights of the woman versus the rights of the object-that-may-or-may-not-be-a-person in her uterus. The very fact that there is a debate over whether a fetus is a person, means that there is (and probably will be for some time) a logical/scientific debate behind this issue that can't be easily resolved. So long as there is some possibility that a fetus is a person, there's grounds for
potentially banning abortion.
Whereas, the only social-con argument against gay marriage is 'it grosses me out' - in other words, no argument at all. All the other arguments (marriage is for producing babies, society will fall apart, children's minds will be corrupted, bible says it's bad) are red herrings that don't stand up to 2 minutes of discussion.
So, in my verbose way, I'm thinking the abortion debate will be around a lot longer than the same-sex marriage debate - just because there is actually something to argue about. More cynically, I think the religious right has more to gain by oppressing women than by oppressing gays. Women's rights are just a tougher target, as they're more entrenched at this point.
[/threadjack] Sorry, carry on.