Masochistic

Andrew Sullivan clearly, desperately, wants to be liked.

I stand conflicted here: my head is with restraint; my heart and my head are with equality. But now the decision is made, it seems clear to me that those of us who support marriage equality need to ensure it gains the democratic legitimacy it deserves. By making, as we have for two decades, arguments that can persuade and testimony that can explain. We have work to do - and every gay Californian needs to find one straight person a day to explain why this issue matters so much.

I've often said that Sullivan "gets it", only on matters related to equal protection under the law. Essentially, he does get it, but what drives Sullivan more than any other characteristic is low self-esteem. He is desperate for approval from those who disapprove of his self-defining characteristic.

It amazes me that Sullivan can spend so much time and effort, painstakingly drawing parallels between inter-racial marriage and same-sex marriage, and then turn around and say that we somehow need to ask nicely to be treated equally.

Does Sullivan ever suggest that people in inter-racial marriage "had work to do" after the courts struck down anti-miscongeniation laws? Did they have to "persuade" one bigot a day that their relationship was just as valid and worthy as anybody else's?

Fuck you Sullivan. I don't have to convince anybody. I think the bigots are assholes, and I call them assholes, and they can fuck off for all I care. I have no use for them. I offer nothing to them.

And in the long run, they aren't going to make any difference.

Sullivan points out that support for same-sex marriage today far outpaces the "general public" support that inter-racial marriage had at the time of Loving vs. Virginia. That's true. And now we see where public attitudes are over whelming in it's support for inter-racial marriage and racial equality. The same exact thing will happen with same-sex marriage, regardless if we ask nicely or not.

In fact, support for same-sex marriage is much like support for inter-racial marriage in that it's generally inversely proportional to age. The older you are, the less likely you are to support it.

Nature has a tendency to fix that problem.

So.. stop being such a whiny puss Sullivan. Stand up for yourself and hate the haters back. They're a dying breed anyway.

/update

Sullivan mentions a trend in Catholic priests denying communion to parishioners who support Barack Obama, because of Obama's position on abortion. As Sully sez;

When some priests deny communion because of support for a presidential candidate, the conflation of politics and religion is hideously complete. And that is the goal of the theocons: to erase any space for private conscience or any distinction between public and private.

Again, because of Sullivan's masochistic tendencies, he just wants the priests to like him and accept him as he is.

What Sullivan defines as "theocons" is simply modern religion... or more accurately, a more complete definition of what religion has always been. It's always been political. It's always been financial. It's always been about social control.

The best way to deal with it, is to shine a light on it. Let the churches be political machines. Let them advocate candidates openly, and discipline their members for having certain points of view all they want. They're doing it on the sly now. Why not be honest about it? It is all about politics.

And then strip the tax exempt status of every single religious organization, and get a lot tougher on examining the tax status of "charities" and make damn sure they have no religious qualifications.

That should make everyone happy. The priest can tell people who to vote for - and we can hit them where it really hurts; the bank account.