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DonViejo

(60,536 posts)
Mon Mar 3, 2014, 12:23 PM Mar 2014

Ross Douthat’s Canny (and Utterly Dishonest) Defense of Homophobia

By Mark Joseph Stern

A married lesbian couple brings their children to a restaurant. The host refuses to seat them because, as he explains, interaction with gay people violates his religious beliefs. The mothers speak to the manager, who reminds the host of the restaurant’s non-discrimination policy and demands that he seat the family. Who is the victim? The mothers, who must explain to their children why their parents’ mere existence is, for some, a despicable sin? The children, who were forced to watch their parents shamed and humiliated in public?

None of the above, according to New York Times op-ed columnist Ross Douthat: By his moral calculus, the host would be the true victim, the family the “victors,” and the hypothetical—which is far from fanciful—demonstrates not the continuing threat of discrimination in America, but, rather, the marginalization of devout Christians at the hands of bellicose pro-gay forces.

In his most recent column, Douthat strives to reframe the current debate about anti-gay discrimination (and even segregation) into one about sincere believers being brutally trampled by gay rights activists eager to bury religious freedom. It’s a failed effort, but a useful failure nonetheless. Arizona’s anti-gay bill may be dead, but several more are alive and kicking, and Douthat neatly anticipates the many straw men, euphemisms, and verbal chicanery anti-gay forces will deploy to make their case.

In fact, Douthat’s column is such an effective piece of homophobic apologia that I expect many red state politicians to borrow from its playbook in the coming months and years. To make their job easier, I’ve laid out the most effective means of disguising raw hatred as religious liberty and rounding discrimination down to “dissent.” If you’re thinking about introducing an anti-gay discrimination bill to your own state’s legislature, you should pay close attention.

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http://www.slate.com/blogs/outward/2014/03/03/ross_douthat_religious_liberty_homophobia_is_more_acceptable_than_racism.html?
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Ross Douthat’s Canny (and Utterly Dishonest) Defense of Homophobia (Original Post) DonViejo Mar 2014 OP
What a conflated illogical piece of Bullshit libodem Mar 2014 #1

libodem

(19,288 posts)
1. What a conflated illogical piece of Bullshit
Mon Mar 3, 2014, 01:19 PM
Mar 2014

How do these people come up this much convoluted mental masturbation? Ignorance? How can anybody think like that?



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