The Real Impetus Behind the "Sanctity of Marriage" Canard

The Mel Gibson anti-Semitic tirade is turning into quite the teachable moment. I've never understood the 'sanctity of marriage arguments.' To me, they always sounded analogous to the arguments against interracial marriage: underneath it all was only squalid and ugly hate. Here's what Gibson said about homosexuality in 1992 (it's below the fold because it's pretty vile):

Heartthrob actor Mel Gibson, asked by one of Spain's leading magazines what he thinks of homosexuals, launched into a tirade against gay men.

"They take it up the ass," Gibson told El Pais as he got out of his chair, bent over and pointed to his butt. "This is only for taking a shit," he said.

Reminded by the interviewer, Koro Castellano, that he worked with gays while studying at the School of Dramatic Arts, Gibson added: "They were good people, kind, I like them. But their thing is not my thing."

Castellano said, "But you were obsessed with the thought that if you were an actor, people would confuse you with one of them."

"Yes," Gibson admitted, "but I did it. I became an actor despite that. But with this look, who's going to think I'm gay? It would be hard to take me for someone like that.

"Do I sound like a homosexual?" he asked. "Do I talk like them? Do I move like them?

"What happens is when you're an actor, they stick that label on you," Gibson said. "I go from playing rugby one week to taking dance classes in black leotards the next. Many of the girls that I met in school took it for granted that I was gay."

But really, the opposition to gay marriage has to do with 'the sanctity of marriage.'

Gibson certainly does seem to have a lot of 'issues' here. What has always struck me about much of the anti-gay movement is the graphic obsession with particular sexual acts between consenting adults. Don't like it? Then don't do it. And for the love of the Intelligent Designer, just stop thinking about it so much if it really does bother you. That's really, erm, odd...