The Future Demands Courage From Conservative New Yorkers

It’s always threatening to confront the unknown, and the future presents a universe of unknowns.

Perhaps that’s why, after eons of evolution, hundreds of thousands of years of intelligent observation, and centuries of organized education, modern man still retreats into the known, the familiar, the past, and the timeless myths which bring familiarity and comfort.

A review of the common Top 20 Myths of all time, and how they reprise in the context of popular religions through the ages and across the planet, is better left to students of such things, like Professor Joseph Campbell.

But the simple fact that such myths continue to exist is testimony not only to the need for reassuring imaginary friends who can make everything come out all right, but to the undeniable, terrifying fact that even the most knowledgable among us do not know what to expect from the future.

Recognizing that, let’s see if I can offer reasonable and rational consolation on the subject of Gay Marriage to the minority of New Yorkers who feel frightened by it.

I recall that the most ubiquitous critique of gays in my youth was, “it’s their promiscuity that I object to”.  Please keep in mind that this was in the days of “free Love” when we heterosexuals un-judgmentally exchanged bodily fluids with anyone, anywhere and anytime. The fact that gays now finally have the right to Marry in New York means that those who, like you, are monogamous and are comforted by traditional customs and ceremonies, can choose to be so comforted. So in that one sense, at least, the gays who seek the sanctity of ritual, share something in common with you, and hence are less to be feared, than you might have thought.

When the aids crisis first emerged headlines screamed about irresponsible, self-indulgent behavior costing needless loss of life. Among those who will take marriage vows in New York starting 30 days from now will be gay couples to whom responsible, selfless commitment to one another is something they have been fighting to declare.  That these values are more in keeping with your own, than those which made headlines in years past, is undeniable. Whether you will have the courage to acknowledge the rightness of their actions is up to you.

So ironically, but very significantly, the familiar values which you treasure are the very values which drive members of the gay community to marry. That’s neither strange nor frightening.

What about tainting the Sanctity of Marriage? If you believe the sanctity of marriage is still worth defending after recent onslaughts like Tiger Woods’ off course foursomes, and Governor Sanford’s hikes on the Appalachian Trail, then perhaps marriage is not all that fragile. Perhaps marriage’s true value is determined by the unique relationship shared between you and your marital partner,  independent of what others might do.

But what about Webster, and the Bible, and every literary and historical work which establishes that marriage is between a man and a women?

Webster, like all dictionaries, changes in accordance with current usage, and it appears that the day’s events in New York might motivate a revision pretty soon. The differentiation between 1.a(1) and 1.a(2), primarily rests upon the phrase “recognized by law”.  The bible, of course, is a historical document and if we limit ourselves to the Judaic / Christian tradition then marriage is certainly heterosexual. If such doctrine was the sole basis for our laws and mores, progress would have died with Galileo, when the Catholic Church condemned him on “vehement suspicion of heresy” and witches would still be burned in Salem.

Brutus at Thanksgiving Table

Then there is the slippery slope idea. This is so phantasmagorical as to introduce the possibility of previously inconceivable matches between man and consenting beast. I don’t see the need to address that possibility at present in light of our inability to discern mutual consent as it might be expressed by beast. But I am willing to bet that by the time such possibility exists, gay and straight married couples will unite to oppose the acceptance of consensual man / beast marriage.  [For more on Brutus Click.]