Wanna Place a Bet on Gay Marriage?

categories: Gay Marriage, Marriage Equality, No on 1, Republican Party and LGBT Rights

Published October 21, 2009 @ 02:00PM PT

gay marriage

Place a conservative commentator on the spot, and you're likely to get them to say the darndest things. Case in point, NY Times conservative columnist Ross Douthat was a featured speaker at an n+1 panel in New York last night, and he was asked about the issue of gay marriage. His reaction?

Conservative opposition to gay marriage is a losing argument.

Douthat himself does not get all warm and fuzzy about the idea of gays and lesbians marrying. He opposes same-sex marriage on religious grounds. But he's also wise enough to know that his line of thinking isn't where the arc of this country's history is heading. Opposing gay marriage now is almost like opposing the repeal of Jim Crow laws fifty years ago. Eventually the court of public opinion is going to decide this matter, and the court of public opinion belongs to advocates of marriage equality.

Douthat also spoke with the Observer after the n+1 event, and added that if he were a betting man, he wouldn't be betting against gay marriage.

"The secular arguments against gay marriage, when they aren't just based on bigotry or custom, tend to be abstract in ways that don't find purchase in American political discourse. I say, ‘Institutional support for reproduction,' you say, ‘I love my boyfriend and I want to marry him.' Who wins that debate? You win that debate," said Douthat. "If I were putting money on the future of gay marriage, I would bet on it."

Another conservative has come around that marriage equality is a matter of "when," not "if." Maybe part of that "when" happens this November in Maine, if gay rights supporters can make the state the first to fight back against a ballot measure that bashes gay marriage.

(Photo courtesy of Pinguino's photostream on Flickr.)

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Comments (9)

Same-sex marriage is a very important right to which all LGBT people must have access to in every state of the United States. Ross Douthat is an intolerant conservative with an incorrect view of LGBT rights, but if he were to bet against same-sex marriage, he would lose, along with every opponent of that right. The other conservative is correct in that same-sex marriage is a guarantee in which it will gain more acceptance, thus it will recognized in more places.

Posted by Edwin Bonilla on 10/21/2009 @ 02:20PM PT
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same-sex marriage should be accepted. there is nothing wrong with spending the rest of your life with someone you love.

Posted by Jay Pesan on 10/21/2009 @ 04:39PM PT
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I think you have the money line: "There's nothing wrong with spending the rest of your life with someone you love." It really is as simple as that.

Posted by Michael Jones on 10/21/2009 @ 04:42PM PT
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Indeed.

Posted by Thomas McHugh on 10/21/2009 @ 04:46PM PT
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Nice to know that not all bible thumpers are as dumb as bricks.

Posted by Thomas McHugh on 10/21/2009 @ 04:46PM PT
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At least someone who doesn't really like us is willing to admit that it isn't worth bothering to try to stop gay marriage.

Honestly, I don't care if religious nut jobs ever like, or even accept us.

Just so long as they leave us a lone and let us have the rights we are entitled to as human beings.

Posted by Paul Hockhousen on 10/22/2009 @ 06:58AM PT
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I Would bet too that there will be gay marriage. From a legal standpoint it is denying our constitutional rights and that is how the Supreme court will decide if they decide even though there are conservative members on the court.

Posted by Martin Martinez on 10/22/2009 @ 07:54AM PT
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Correction: If Maine defeats Prop. 1 in November (which is likely) Maine will not be the first state to do so.

The first attempt to amend Arizona's constitution to ban same-sex marriage failed at the polls, the fact that they later passed a less-extreme amendment notwithstanding.

Posted by Kari Hazzard on 10/22/2009 @ 06:55PM PT
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I firmly believe that the only reason it passed there was because Sarah the pitbull was on the ticket.

Posted by Dave Hershey on 10/22/2009 @ 07:08PM PT
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Michael is the Communications Director for the Human Rights Program at Harvard Law School, and previously was Communications Director for Pax Christi USA, a progressive Catholic human rights organization.