Gay Marriage

Never underestimate the power of indifference.

In the fight for gay marriage, laziness not bigotry has been the main opponent. Maine recently became the 31st state to not allow gay marriage. I think one of Newton's Laws of Motion, inertia, is to blame. Every election has zealous supporters on both sides of an issue. But, those people are out-numbered by the part of the voting-age population that could not give a crap. This is what kills the gay rights ballot questions every year.

Religious fanatics (if they are Christian, they are called conservative, if they are Muslim, they are called terrorists) swell the memberships of groups with names like The Family Institute and champion the cause of "family values." They are mostly filled with cheating husbands, prudish wives and self-hating gays. (Do a Google search for Evangelist and either gay or prostitute or both.) Their main assertion is that allowing gay marriage would be an attack on the institution of marriage. This, of course, is complete bullshit because if you really wanted to strengthen the institution of marriage, you would attack its main plague, divorce.

The proponents have one main constituency mainly, gays. Friends and family add to the movement, but they just don't have numbers to compete with the family values people. The family values people play up people's visceral reactions to aberrational lifestyles and the tide is set in motion. The subliminal message is "aren't you grossed out by homosexuality?" So, your family values message gets into the heads of people who are actively choosing to go to the polls and take a side.

This is where the gay marriage movement stalls. I can only attest to this anecdotaly and I admittedly skew to a younger demographic, but I've asked people what they think about gay marriage. Their answer is usually, "Who cares? or I don't give a f--- or whatever or why are you interrupting my sedentary lifestyle with these heavy societal questions, I'm trying to watch TV now shut the f--- up." I bet if you polled these passive observers (people who don't give a sh-t) you would find a (default) acceptance of gay marriage. People ultimately don't want to be bothered. They just want to say yeah, whatever leave me alone.

Your challenge gay marriage proponents is to get these people off their butt and into the game. This is a tough task since a body at rest will stay at rest. The easier route would be to fight the "gross-out" campaign. More Tim Gunn and lipstick lesbians and less making out on the capital steps. Do you remember Al Gore giving his wife a tongue bath? People were grossed out by that and he was straight.

More this, less that:

Ultimately though, gay marriage people your fight is not one against bigotry and intolerance, it is one against the recliner and the couch. Indifference is a great demotivater. Christ, look how long it takes between posts on this site. Did I die of the Swine Flu? No, of course not, because it's certainly ludicrous to be more worried about that than getting killed by say falling debris or being pregnant, or just about anything else that can kill you including the regular flu that's 4000 times more deadly, I just didn't give a crap for a while. Sloth is a deadly sin after all.



-K