Foll-A

I like gay people and — let me be frank — hate fast food. But this nonsense about Chick-Fil-A underscores the reason I’ve been hesitant to indulge my natural libertarianism and plunk outright for gay marriage.

In general, I have no problem with marriage for gays, if it comes about legislatively rather than through judicial fiat. I’ve listened carefully to the arguments of several social conservatives of good will who feel that changing the age-old definition of marriage will weaken a principle pillar of liberty. I’m not convinced — not even convinced that the possibility of such a moral hazard is a compelling reason to keep people from doing whatever they bloody well want with their private lives. As for the ideas that being gay is unnatural or a sin per se — that is, a sin whether it does any earthly harm or not — I reject them outright. Homosexuality seems as much a part of nature as left-handedness and is probably much less annoying when using scissors. And if it is somehow offensive to God, that’s His business: I am specifically instructed to judge not in such matters and tend to my own manifold offenses.

But when activists and government officials feel justified in attempting obnoxious boycotts and illegal vendettas against a business like Chick-Fil-A merely because it puts forward traditional beliefs, I am reminded of the deep, vicious and steadfast intolerance of those who claim the mantle of tolerance. I begin to suspect — I do suspect — that the movement for gay marriage is nothing more than an assault on freedom of religion and freedom of expression by other means — yet another ploy of those who believe in an all-powerful state shepherding powerless individuals into leftist nirvana. Truly, I wish to deny my gay friends and colleagues nothing. But the right to express, exercise and live by your faith and conscience is far more essential to human liberty and dignity than the government’s official approval of your relationships. If what gay activists really want is the power to silence those who disapprove of them, then to hell with them.

I have never been able to see the problem with being gay and don’t know why some people find it repellent. What I find repellent are the hateful and intolerant radicals who wage war on people for their opinions. Wise gay people will throw these idiots overboard and make their case for acceptance with patience and reason to their fellow Americans. They are going to win this fight eventually, I think, but the method by which they win will matter to their future and the future of the country.