Dispatches from the Creation Wars

An Oldie but Goodie

Posted by Ed Brayton on June 8, 2006
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While we’re talking about anti-gay bigotry and the religious right, how about this oldie but goodie from Pat Robertson. Last summer, he declared that gays are responsible for no-fault divorce and abortions:

ROBERTSON: I had interviewed a lady who was a sociologist who says “I am a lesbian,” but she described homosexuality in this term, she said, “They are self-absorbed narcissists.” I want you to put that down — self-absorbed narcissists who are willing to destroy any institution so long as they can have affirmation of their lifestyle. You go back to the various laws that took away the difficulty of getting a divorce, and the people leading the charge were homosexuals, way back in the ’70s. So we have no-fault divorce. Who are leading the charge for abortions? So often, you’ll find people who are lesbians leading the fight for the destruction of human life. Now they want to destroy marriage.

So let’s see….gays have never been able to get married, but they’re responsible for no-fault divorces (and by the way, the first no-fault divorce law in the nation was in California and was signed into law by none other than Ronald Reagan). They can’t have children, or so the religious right keeps telling us, yet they’re also responsible for abortion. It’s amazing to me that they want to “destroy marriage” at the same time that they’re trying to get married. This is logic that only makes sense in some sort of bizarro universe.

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Comments

  1. #1 Chance
    June 8, 2006

    Yes as if no fault divorce is such a problem. Instead we should make sure someone gets the blame and the entire process is made as ugly as possible. No one is a fan of divorce(although in many situations it seems like the best call) but reducing the burden on those who suffer this life trauma doesn’t seem like the worst idea.

  2. #2 shargash
    June 8, 2006

    I would like to see one coherent argument against gay marriage. All I have heard, over and over again, is that it will damage (even destroy) marriage. That makes no sense whatsoever. I am married, and seems obvious to me that if two homosexuals get married, that it has no influence on my marriage whatsoever.

    Now, I don’t expect to agree with the argument. But I do expect people playing in the national arena to be at least coherent, and not batshit insane.

  3. #3 sdanielmorgan
    June 8, 2006

    Your mistake is in thinking that Robertson, or those who he panders to, either appeal to or prefer to employ logic in their arguments.

  4. #4 sockatume
    June 8, 2006

    Maybe it’s a quantum Zeno hypothesis thing. Like that computer that can produce results without performing the calculation. Of course that would imply that homosexuals exhibit macroscopic quantum behavior. This in turn creates mind-boggling implications which would no doubt terrify Robertson.

  5. #5 theberle
    June 8, 2006

    I remember reading (a few months back, possibly on this blog) a quote from someone from the Christian Right who truly believed that without his religion, he would turn into the worst sinner possible, and commit murder, theft, rape, etc. He claimed that the only thing keeping him from doing all that was Christianity — he had no self-instilled morals.

    I think the argument from the Christian Right that Homosexual Marriage will “destroy” traditional marriages stems from a similar irrational fear: if there is no governmental restriction on gay marriages, we’ll just all uncontrollably “cross over to the dark side.”

    Unfortunately, there’s a vocal minority in America who don’t realize they have an internal moral-compass. Instead, this small group of people have allowed these right-wing televangelists to pick obscure quotes from the Bible to coerce their followers to point their compass in any direction these “leaders” choose. There’s a lot of immoral things that are legal in this country, and most of us still choose not to engage in them.

    I’d like to believe that Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, and the rest of the American Taliban are just repressed homosexuals, scared of ever having to face their true feelings, fighting their compass. However, I think they’re really just power- and money-hungry and will do whatever they can to divide and conquer America.

    P.S. Re-reading the above, it may seem as if I am saying homosexuality is a moral issue and my “moral-compass” points me away from it. My moral-compass says that as long as both of us are consenting adults, the government shouldn’t have any say in what we do.