From the New York Observer, 10/22/09, via Memeorandum:
Ross Douthat, conservative op-ed columnist for the New York Times … indicated that he opposes gay marriage because of his religious beliefs, but that he does not like debating the issue in those terms. At one point he said that, sometimes, he feels like he should either change his mind, or simply resolve never to address the question in public.
He added that the conservative opposition to gay marriage is “a losing argument,” and asked rhetorically if committed homosexual relationships ought to be denied the legal recognition accorded without hesitation to the fleeting enthusiasms of Britney Spears and Newt Gingrich.
After the panel, Mr. Douthat told the Observer: “If I were putting money on the future of gay marriage, I would bet on it.”
He added: “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.”
I wish that we were winning the debate. The Courage Campaign reports that polling in Maine shows a dead heat, 48-48, for and against the ballot measure to overturn Maine’s law allowing homosexual marriage equality.
