Thursday, November 06, 2008

Is Compromise Possible?

I got this message from someone whom I gather is a gay rights supporter:
I guess we’ll see where things go from here but I don’t get the feeling Prop 8 is last word. Just as your sleeping giant has been awakened, I sense a hard push-back coming from the other side.

I’ve always thought there was a fairly easy compromise to be made on this issue. A compromise that would address concerns like the ones you brought up regarding education and lawsuits. But the truth seems to be that neither side is interested in any half measures. It’s all or nothing. So we now have thousands of newly married gays and a new amendment that….rips up their marriage licenses? Reminds me of something I saw on YouTube.

Me: There was a compromise. It was called domestic partnerships. Many fair-minded Californians thought that the very generous DP legislation over the last 8 years was the basis for a stable compromise: hospital visitation, insurance, survivorship benefits, adoption, the whole enchilda. But what we saw as a compromise, the gay lobby saw as a stepping stone toward their final goal of gay marriage. The compromise was not disrupted by putting Prop 8 on the ballot. Those law suits that resulted in judicially imposed ssm this spring broke up the compromise.
So now I ask you: why should anyone compromise with the gay lobby? Why should any sensible person give an inch? Particularly when they have so little respect for the democratic process that they are out protesting in front of the Mormon Temple in LA. They are treating their opponents with contempt. Why should we pretend that compromise is possible?

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