Culture: March 2004 Archives

Dawn Eden reports from Monday's Defense of Marriage rally in New York City. It didn't fit the media stereotype of these events:

During the one-hour rally—which occurred after hundreds of members of the clergy held a press conference on the City Hally steps—the crowd was addressed by several local pastors from the from the City Covenant Coalition and Kevin McCullough, each of whom led a prayer. It was strange and beautiful to be on the southern border of the park on a bright, sunny day, holding hands with complete strangers, and realizing we all wanted the same thing. We were reclaiming city space as prayer space.

It was clear that one of the main talking points for the pastors (which I later learned was elucidated in the guidelines their coalition had produced for the rally) was that we who uphold traditional marriage should not carry a message of hate. But this was more than just "love the sinner, hate the sin." The speakers stressed that the present marriage crisis stemmed from heterosexual infidelity, and from the church's failure to come down strongly against such transgressions.

One speaker instructed the crowd's members to say, "We have sinned," and then point at themselves and say, "I have sinned." The issue, said another, was not that we should beat ourselves up over our sin, but that we should take responsibility for what we have done, and likewise take responsibility for our actions now.

I don't know what, if any, coverage this rally is going to get from the mainstream media, but I can tell you one thing: If any mainstream reporters were there, chances are they were very disappointed. There was not a single word of hate. There was only the message of God's love and redemption, and of marriage as Jesus described in in Matthew 19:4-6....

There's more and it's all good, plus links to photos and additional coverage of the rally.

National Review Online runs one of Florence King's The Misanthrope's Corner columns each Friday. This week's is from 1996, in which King anticipates with uncanny accuracy the course of the same-sex marriage debate:

The preliminary stage of brainwashing is already underway. "Husband" and "wife" are yielding to "spouse," a vague usage that benefits no one but gays. Gov. Roy Romer recently vetoed Colorado's proposed anti-gay marriage law, calling it "mean-spirited," a word that functions in America like the bell in Pavlov's laboratory. And now Bill Clinton has announced, through his gay-liaison office, that he is "personally opposed" to homosexual marriage. This phraseology, a staple of the abortion debate, is a reminder not to let our premises stand in the way of our conclusions.

The major brainwashing, soon to begin, will proceed as follows.

Magazines will run cover stories that thinking Americans — all 17 of us — recognize as that brand of persuasion called "nibbled to death by a duck." Time does "Debating Same-Sex Marriage" and Newsweek does "Rethinking Gay Marriage." Lofty opinion journals weigh in with "A Symposium on," "In Defense of," and "Voices from," while Parade does "If They Say 'I Do' . . . Will We Say 'You Can't?'" Cover art consists of a pair of wedding rings sporting identical biological signs: two arrow-shooting circles for men, two mirror-handle circles for women. We will start seeing these logos in our sleep.

Read the whole thing, then read a couple of her previously posted columns.