I understand that gay marriage is controversial. I absolutely get that not everyone will agree that having gay marriage enshrined in British law is a Good Thing. Many conservatives don’t accept that parliament is entitled to pass such a law. Principled disagreement has to be quite proper, and questioning whether ‘marriage’ is a proper term for a gay relationship is not of itself ‘anti-gay’.
But there really is no excuse for some of the arrant nonsense I’m reading today. Norman Tebbit’s latest outpourings are one thing, but no more than we’ve come to expect. I was surprised by Archbishop Cranmer’s outpouring though
Gordon Wilson, former leader of the SNP, has warned that gay marriage will lead to ‘state fascism’. Those who oppose will be cast as bigots, Nazis and fascists ( or ’swivel-eyed loons’) ranged against the moderate, enlightened and utterly reasonable proponents. …
How many Christians will be targeted and harassed by ‘aggressive homosexuals’ - the homosexualists - simply in order ‘to get media attention’? And don’t think it’s only the Christians: the crusading gays are ferociously unforgiving in condemnation of their moderate dissenting co-sexualists (see here, here and here).To the rabid, intolerant homosexualist, a gay person who doesn’t support gay marriage is ‘like the token Asian guy who wants to be in the BNP’. Nice, huh?
We will doubtless be seeing an awful lot more of this: The Attorney General Dominic Grieve has warned of the ‘profound difficulties’ ahead for those who dissent from the state’s redefinition of marriage. We will surely see Christian ministers and schoolteachers dragged before commissions and inquisitions, and they will be judged ‘guilty’ irrespective of the religious conscience. Their crime will simply have been that of preaching a sermon or delivering a lesson expressing some concern about the gay agenda or casting some doubt upon the validity of gay marriage. But someone will complain about ‘hurt feelings’ (whether truly hurt or not), and these preachers and teachers will be arrested, prosecuted, fined or imprisoned. The only means of avoiding this will be self-censorship: the mere discussion of homosexuality will become taboo.
When people start raving like that, the only proper response is ridicule.
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