To oppose gay marriage is not necessarily a bigoted position
By Breda O Brien – Irish Times
Thoughtful conservatives are not bigoted, intellectually inferior or vile: they just see the balance of values differently
It may seem odd to describe Fintan O’Toole’s article on gay marriage ( Opinion , Tuesday April 16th) as a classic exposition of liberal values, given that the only reason he can conceive of for opposing gay marriage is bigotry motivated by revulsion for gay people.
Admittedly, it does seem distant from “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”
But it remains a brilliant exposition of liberal values. Take this: “A marriage freely entered into is a personal relationship. It stands or falls, endures or collapses, is a heaven or a hell, solely because of the way the people in that relationship treat each other.”
In short, there is no such thing as society, only families and individuals.
Jonathan Haidt, author of the The Righteous Mind , believes that liberals and conservatives constantly misunderstand each other, using the same words but meaning entirely different things. Take marriage. Fintan believes it is a personal relationship, to be maintained as long as romantic love endures. But if marriage is simply a personal relationship, why does the State have any interest in it?
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2013-04-21 02:15:09
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