But we differ with Kurtz on where the slippery slope begins. We believe it starts with a legal and social acceptance of homosexuality. Once the legal and social barriers have been removed (i.e., sodomy laws are overturned, gay hookup billboards are allowed on city streets, and family supermarkets carry homosexual newspapers), there's no stopping the radicals from claiming their demands are all about "equal rights". If there's nothing wrong with homosexual behavior per se, they can portray any opposition to anything they want as a discriminatory denial of rights.
Kurtz, on the other hand, believes we must accept homosexual behavior and overturn legal impediments to it (sodomy laws). What he doesn't understand is that he's undercutting his own arguments for preserving
marriage as "one man plus one woman."
What he calls "the 'ick' factor" -- undefined, but apparently the natural gut recognition to the unnaturalness of homosexual behavior -- should not be buried, and those who are brave enough to admit it should not be pushed to the sidelines in this debate. MassResistance believes "the 'ick' factor" comes not only from nature, but from our conscience. We think it a positive thing -- and denying it puts you on the slippery slope.
Kurtz's lengthy piece in The Weekly Standard, "Here Come the Brides: Plural marriage is waiting in the wings" about the recent trio (hetero man + two bisexual women) "married" in Holland, focused on his horror at the bisexuality inherent in polyamorous groupings. It seems "the 'ick' factor" is still operative for Kurtz regarding bisexuality!
(Kurtz points out that in the U.S., the Unitarians are ready to take the lead on group "marriage" -- as they did with same-sex "marriage" -- but have pulled back for fear of damaging the still precarious same-sex "marriage" movement. MassResistance noted back in June the Unitarian role in this social revolution.)
More recently in National Review Online, Kurtz responded to a liberal critic, who failed to see one of his main points about the importance of opposite-sex parents for children. Then Kurtz reiterated his opposition to sodomy laws! He wants to be sure we all understand that he does not oppose homosexual "marriage" on the basis of "the 'ick' factor." (Neither does he have any interest in addressing the health risks of homosexual sex, and its impact on public health.)
Kurtz wrote: "Anderson claims my use of the slippery-slope argument shows desperation. In effect, says Anderson, resort to the slippery slope proves that my main argument against gay marriage, "the 'ick' factor," is losing ground with the American people. Trouble is, I do not oppose same-sex marriage based on "the 'ick' factor." I've always called for tolerance of homosexuality, going back to "The Ashcroft-Logger Alliance" in 2001, where I expressed opposition to sodomy laws.
"I've used the slippery-slope argument from the beginning, as have other opponents of same-sex marriage. The only difference is that the slippery-slope argument is becoming more obviously true with every passing year. If anyone is prejudiced here, it's Anderson, who relies on mistaken assumptions about opponents of same-sex marriage.
"Arguably the central claim of same-sex-marriage opponents [is] that gay marriage separates marriage from parenthood, with deleterious consequences for marriage as an institution."
"[S]ame-sex marriage is winning through equal-protection claims. Most of those who favor same-sex marriage give little thought to marriage as an institution and much thought to the analogy from civil rights. Given that fundamental legal-political-cultural fact, there is every reason to fear that the grounds on which we are granting same-sex marriage will someday force us to grant recognition to multiple-partner marriage."
So, Kurtz believes in toleration for homosexuals in general, but is concerned that their right to "marry" is socially destabilizing -- and will lead to group "marriages."This is puzzling. Can't Kurtz see that a slippery-slope argument applied earlier in the game? Once you're publicly tolerant of homosexuality, how do you deny it's a legitimate basis for a "marriage" or "family"? If you outlaw "the 'ick' factor", or refuse to address the health risks of homosexuality (and transsexuality), your only recourse is to prove something that lies in the future (so is still unprovable): the socially destabilizing effect of sanctioned homosexual or polyamorous "marriages" and "parenting."
Once you say that the unnatural is natural and acceptable in sexual relations, how can you insist that there's a natural family order ("a child needs both a mother and a father") that must be adhered to? Why can't we be accepting of all family structures as valid, including three or more parents? Once you accept homosexual sexuality, why not accept bisexual sexuality? Why is he so upset at the idea of bisexuality, while tolerant of homosexuality?
As the grand social experiment leads into weirder and weirder places, Kurtz has too keep adjusting his outrage trigger. He accepts homosexuality, but not bisexuality. And bad as homosexual "marriage" is, he seems to think group "marriages" are even worse! What he doesn't seem to grasp is that the GLBTQIP activists are winning through incrementalism. After a few years of in-your-face outrageous demands, people like Kurtz are softened up, and ready to move on to oppose the next outrage. Meanwhile, the first outrageous demands have been achieved.
"More important, the De Bruijn [recently in Holland] wedding reveals a heretofore hidden dimension of the gay marriage phenomenon. The De Bruijns' triple marriage is a bisexual marriage. And, increasingly, bisexuality is emerging as a reason why legalized gay marriage is likely to result in legalized group marriage. If every sexual orientation has a right to construct its own form of marriage, then more changes are surely due. For what gay marriage is to homosexuality, group marriage is to bisexuality. The De Bruijn trio is the tip-off to the fact that a connection between bisexuality and the drive for multipartner marriage has been developing for some time."
Kurtz is taking a purely sociological perspective, trying hard to keep his scholarly focus just on family structure, while being open to an anything-goes sexuality...until "bisexuality" pops up and leads into polyamory! But he got on the slippery slope the minute he argued for accepting homosexual sex, while opposing only homosexual "marriage."
We believe "the 'ick' factor" is still powerful in America. It's the only thing that will halt this social and moral decline. Sadly, the public has been propagandized for so long about being open-minded and accepting, and seeing homosexual "marriage" as an "equal rights" issue, they don't want to appear "backward". So they've saved their gut opposition for the ballot box ... when they're allowed to vote.
