Comments on: The Gay Marriage Debate – the Principle of Rights http://pawlconsulting.com/blog/2009/05/06/the-gay-marriage-debate-the-principle-of-rights/ Business Ethics Sun, 18 Apr 2010 17:39:46 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 hourly 1 By: Bruce Scottow http://pawlconsulting.com/blog/2009/05/06/the-gay-marriage-debate-the-principle-of-rights/comment-page-1/#comment-22 Bruce Scottow Wed, 06 May 2009 23:03:52 +0000 http://pawlconsulting.com/blog/?p=187#comment-22 Morissa...hip, hip, hooray! I support all of what you've said. The line between personal belief and written law is not fine or fuzzy. We cannot legislate thought. We can't legislate speech (apart from the "yelling fire in a crowded" theater analogy). But we can and do and must legislate on behavior. Having blogged on Truthdig.com for some time now, I've been hit with so many absurd reasons why the legalization of gay marriage is dangerous. One of the most absurd is the "slippery slope" analogy. "Gay Marriage will lead to polygamy, or sister marrying sister, or father marrying nephew. The next thing ya know, we'll see people marrying pets and farm animals. Gay marriage will destroy the institution of marriage, crumble our family units and tear apart the fabric of our civilization. Once the door to Gay Marriage is open it's history for mankind. It's a slippery slope to hell." Poppycock. There's no slippery slope. We're a nation of laws. WE THE PEOPLE decide what, if anything, comes next. Consider: 1. Did the dropping of the voting age to 18 automatically put us on the road to granting the vote to 16-year-olds? 12-year-olds? 2. Women were finally granted the right to vote in federal elections in 1920. Did that later open the gates for animal lovers to press for a "Guinea Pig Suffrage Movement"? 3. Has the raising of drinking ages to 21 inevitably pushed us to raise them to 25 or 30? The only true "slippery slope" is what I hope is the inevitable flow from ignorance to enlightenment. Morissa…hip, hip, hooray! I support all of what you’ve said. The line between personal belief and written law is not fine or fuzzy. We cannot legislate thought. We can’t legislate speech (apart from the “yelling fire in a crowded” theater analogy). But we can and do and must legislate on behavior.

Having blogged on Truthdig.com for some time now, I’ve been hit with so many absurd reasons why the legalization of gay marriage is dangerous. One of the most absurd is the “slippery slope” analogy.

“Gay Marriage will lead to polygamy, or sister marrying sister, or father marrying nephew. The next thing ya know, we’ll see people marrying pets and farm animals. Gay marriage will destroy the institution of marriage, crumble our family units and tear apart the fabric of our civilization. Once the door to Gay Marriage is open it’s history for mankind. It’s a slippery slope to hell.”

Poppycock. There’s no slippery slope. We’re a nation of laws. WE THE PEOPLE decide what, if anything, comes next. Consider:

1. Did the dropping of the voting age to 18 automatically put us on the road to granting the vote to 16-year-olds? 12-year-olds?
2. Women were finally granted the right to vote in federal elections in 1920. Did that later open the gates for animal lovers to press for a “Guinea Pig Suffrage Movement”?
3. Has the raising of drinking ages to 21 inevitably pushed us to raise them to 25 or 30?

The only true “slippery slope” is what I hope is the inevitable flow from ignorance to enlightenment.

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