If it isn't obvious already, Joy Behar doesn't know when to keep her mouth shut. On Jan. 26's "The View," a clueless Behar accidentally tipped the agenda of much of the gay and same-sex marriage movement.
"They," she said, referring to gays, "don't take monogamy and infidelity the same way that the straight community does."
Such things as fidelity, she added, don't have the "same weight" with gays as with straights, and - you might want to sit down for this - Behar was actually right for once.
With the latest battle over same-sex marriage brewing in a California federal court, gays are claiming that they simply want the right to participate in traditional marriage. But that couldn't be further from the truth. As a previous CMI article noted, many gays don't want to just participate in traditional marriage. They want to radically change it.
The idea of monogamy - the most basic component of heterosexual marriage - doesn't exist in the majority of homosexual relationships. As far back as 1972, the National Coalition of Gay Organizations has demanded the "repeal of all legislative provisions that restrict the sex or number of persons entering into a marriage unit; and the extension of legal benefits to all persons who cohabit regardless of sex or numbers."
A 1997 study published in the Journal of Sex Research found that the average number of sexual partners for older homosexual men ranged between 101-500. And 10-15 percent of the men reported having had more than 1,000 sexual partners in their lifetime.
Even when gay partners consider themselves to be in a committed relationship similar to a marriage, their definition of monogamy wildly differs from that of a traditional marriage.
A 2003 Canadian study that interviewed homosexual men who had been in a committed relationship for over a year found that only 25 percent had been faithful to their partner. The study's author, Barry Adam, concluded that "gay culture allows men to explore different ... forms of relationships besides the monogamy coveted by heterosexuals."
And there appears to be no desire to change that behavior. In fact, looking at their literature, it would seem that the general homosexual community believes traditional marriage would benefit from adapting such a lifestyle.
Andrew Sullivan, a prominent proponent of gay marriage, wrote in his 1996 book "Virtually Normal" that in gay male relationships "there is more likely to be a great understanding of the need for extramarital outlets" and that such an honest, flexible, and equal relationship could "undoubtedly help strengthen and inform many heterosexual bonds."
Similarly, Paula Ettelbrick, the former legal director of the gay-rights organization Lamda Legal Defense and Education Fund, wrote in 1993, "Being queer is more than setting up house, sleeping with a person of the same gender, and seeking state approval for doing so....Being queer means pushing the parameters of sex, sexuality, and family, and in the process transforming the very fabric of society."
And that transformation doesn't just stop with the social acceptance of marital infidelity. It includes polygamy.
In a widely cited 1996 Michigan Law Review article, University of Michigan law professor David Chambers wrote that he expects gay marriage will lead government to be "more receptive to [marital] units of three or more."
Stanley Kurtz, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institute, agreed in his 2003 article "Beyond Gay Marriage," which was published in The Weekly Standard. He wrote that "the likeliest effects" of gay marriage will be a "slippery slope" to the legalization of polygamy and polyamory (group marriage).
"Marriage will be transformed," he continued, "into a variety of relationship contracts, linking two, three or more individuals ... in every conceivable combination of male and female."
"A scare scenario?" he asked. "Hardly. The bottom of this slope is visible from where we stand. Advocacy of legalized polygamy is growing. A network of grass-roots organizations seeking legal recognition for group marriage already exists. The cause of legalized group marriage is championed by a powerful faction of family law specialists. Influential legal bodies in both the United States and Canada have presented radical programs of marital reform. Some of these quasi-governmental proposals go so far as to suggest the abolition of marriage."
Behar, though, couldn't seem to fathom any negative repercussions from embracing a gay sexual lifestyle; in fact, she questioned whether monogamy is even a "natural state for men" (apparently she hasn't read the Bible) and said that being monogamous is "too much trouble" anyway.
