On Saturday, June 25, 2011, thousands flooded the streets to celebrate the passage of New York's law permitting same-sex marriage. Amongst those who put on their party hats to rejoice were the media, who for years now have unashamedly supported every effort to legalize gay marriage and ignored or bashed the social conservatives with whom they disagree.
And while the media was rejoicing, 13 Democratic Senators were supporting the gay agenda by participating in a campaign to stop gay bullying.
Anderson Cooper who on Wednesday June 22, before the bill was passed, complained about the slow process of the bill, had two guests on his show to discuss this issue, CNN's liberal legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin and Evan Wolfson, executive director of freedomtomarry.org. There was no social conservative to balance out the panel or to give a voice to the opposing view. Wolfson spoke on the impact this vote would have on other states and on the nation saying,
'This is New York. New York is a global face of America. New York sends a message. New York is going to be giving the rest of the country and indeed the world a chance to really see that, when marriage discrimination ends, families are helped and no one's hurt, with all the power that New York brings.' He went on to claim, 'When people see it for real, not just in scary ads, they realize that actually it takes nothing away from my family for the family across the street to be stronger and better off.'
There was nobody to defend the social conservatives concerns about same-sex marriages' impact on families.
Wolfson also began to throw out some statistics, stating 'And that's why actually now six polls have shown that a majority in this country do support the freedom to marry. People have moved, including 63 percent of Catholics.' He did not give a basis for this statistic about Catholics, nor did he recognize that the Catholic Church's official teaching is that homosexuality is wrong, though they condemn the sin, not the sinner.
Toobin insisted on getting in on the bias as well. Pointing out that a New York law permitting same-sex marriage would force the courts to overturn DOMA (the Defense of Marriage Act), he said, 'And if you have thousands of gay couples who are married in New York, and they are denied the right to have the same benefits under federal tax law, it's going to force the courts, I think, to strike down DOMA, because if you have that many gay married couples, the idea that they all are victims of discrimination, I don't think it can be sustained.' Toobin failed to realize that the legitimacy of a law does not depend on the amount of people it affects, but on the constitutionality of it, determined by a court that is supposedly uninfluenced by public opinon.
But Cooper's panel wasn't the only one celebrating the 'historic' legislation. ABC news also joined in the celebration, pointing out on Saturday's World News that 'The New York Senate vote is considered by many a milestone in the civil rights struggle of our times.' They were also pleased to point out celebrities' reactions to this news: 'Celebration came from far beyond New York, with celebrities cheering on Twitter. Rosie O'Donnell, 'Happy gays are here again.' Lady Gaga, 'I can't stop crying.' And Ricky Martin, 'Time to celebrate'.'
Same-sex marriage is not the only item on the gay-rights advocates' priority list. A recent campaign called 'It Gets Better' has been launched by celebrities, the movie industry, and now, politicians.
'It Gets Better' is a campaign, 'created to show young LGBT people the levels of happiness, potential, and positivity their lives will reach - if they can just get through their teen years,' according to the itgetsetter.com 'The 'It Gets Better Project' wants to remind teenagers in the LGBT community that they are not alone - and it WILL get better.' The website also says, 'Without other openly gay adults and mentors in their lives, they can't imagine what their future may hold. In many instances, gay and lesbian adolescents are taunted - even tortured - simply for being themselves.'
Promoting an end to violence, imposed by others and by themselves, is indeed a laudable goal. But the 'It Gets Better' campaign, flies in the face of parents whose values oppose homosexuality. Many of the videos featured discussions about close-minded parents and churches and instead of focusing upon ending violence and hatred. The videos came across as merely promoting homosexuality.
In many of the videos, individuals recounted how they knew they were gay. 'I was always a tomboy', 'I liked to play sports with the boys' or 'I liked to play with dolls' were common explanations. These videos may send the wrong message to young people, saying that if you do these things, you are obviously gay, and could actually increase violence, taunting, and hatred towards young people who do these things, whether they are gay or not.
Video submissions for this campaign have come from likely sources, celebrities such as Ke$ha, Colin Farrell, Anne Hathaway, Adam Lambert, Joe Jonas, Joel Madden, Ellen DeGeneres and many others. However, others that jumped on board were more surprising; staffs from Pixar and the Gap and other major corporations have also submitted videos.
And now, the US Senate has unveiled a video made by 13 Democrat Senators. President Obama, Representative Pelosi, and Hilary Clinton have also all made submissions.
The 'It Gets Better' campaign should not apologize for promoting the end of violence; hatred against homosexuals is never acceptable. But this project ignores the possibility that many who are against homosexuality are not motivated by hate.
