Ford, who AKSARBENT reads regularly, but not enough, posted another impeccably reasoned and elegantly written critique of the execrable Mark Regnerus, who recently said this about gay marriage:
Many libertarians and conservatives, including Britain’s Prime Minister
David Cameron, assert that marriage is a conservative institution—which
is true—one that will therefore function as such for those who enter it,
whether gay or straight. While certainly the case for some, that claim
is an unlikely future for many, not because gay or lesbian couples are
liberal but because those in the driver’s seat of the contemporary
mating market—men—are permissive. This, I predict, will be same-sex
marriage’s signature effect on the institution—the institutionalization
of monogamish as an acceptable marital trait. No, gay men can’t
cause straight men to cheat. Instead, the legitimacy newly accorded
their marital unions spells opportunity for men everywhere to bend the
boundaries. Dan Savage will be proud.
Part of Ford's answer, at
ThinkProgress:
...Regnerus may have put the cart before the horse. Society has long
stigmatized the gay community, inherently discouraging monogamy among
same-sex couples. It was easier for gay people to have secret sexual
liaisons than build a consistent life with a person of the same gender
that might out them. Over time, the gay community has sought out
monogamy in spite of societal expectations, and Dan Savage’s “monogamish” structure may well have evolved out of these competing dynamics.
Thus, Regnerus is blaming gay people for how they adapted to being
condemned by society to justify continuing to condemn them. Rather than
acknowledge this tautology and instead promote marriage and monogamy for
all couples, he continues to feed the feedback loop. Given that even
opponents of marriage equality believe it to be inevitable, Regnerus is solving nothing by clinging to the past.
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