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elfsLaurie Higgins has a charming little article, Republican skeletons in the closet, in which she excoriates the Republican nattersphere for refusing to look too closely at Republican politicians who are known or strongly rumored to be gay, and for reacting with outrage whenever one is "outed" in someway, claiming that it's an invasion of privacy.
Remember, these people don't believe in privacy, and are vehemently opposed to Griswold v. Connecticut's assumption that people have a right to privacy. Griswold v. Connecticut assured individuals of a right to privacy in the context of access to contraceptives.
Robert Bork pointed out that the assumption of a right to privacy in the context of Griswold means that one group has now been given a right to do something, and the right to do something is the same as the power to do something, and that "something" is have lots of sex without a commensurate risk of becoming a parent. Bork said the right of some people to have gratifying sex comes at a price: the loss to nosy busibodies to have a gratfying state-imposed moral order. "Every clash between a minority claiming freedom and a majority claiming power to regulate involves a choice between the gratification of the two groups... why is sexual gratification more worthy than moral gratification?" – Robert Bork, Indiana Law Journal, 1971. It's important to note that Bork repeated this claim at his confirmation hearing in 1984.
Higgins is all in a froth that "homosexuality matters. Volitional homosexual behavior is deviant, immoral behavior regardless of its etiology. That moral claim is not only a legitimate but also a necessary moral claim to make publicly." That's just a typical Christianist argument. It's boring.
What got me fascinated by Higgins was this paragraph:
The take-away here is that poly is winning: by framing it in the same context as homosexuality, as a legitimate civil arrangement, rather than depicting it in ways similar to swinging, the poly community has successfully put its detractors on the defensive.
Remember, these people don't believe in privacy, and are vehemently opposed to Griswold v. Connecticut's assumption that people have a right to privacy. Griswold v. Connecticut assured individuals of a right to privacy in the context of access to contraceptives.
Robert Bork pointed out that the assumption of a right to privacy in the context of Griswold means that one group has now been given a right to do something, and the right to do something is the same as the power to do something, and that "something" is have lots of sex without a commensurate risk of becoming a parent. Bork said the right of some people to have gratifying sex comes at a price: the loss to nosy busibodies to have a gratfying state-imposed moral order. "Every clash between a minority claiming freedom and a majority claiming power to regulate involves a choice between the gratification of the two groups... why is sexual gratification more worthy than moral gratification?" – Robert Bork, Indiana Law Journal, 1971. It's important to note that Bork repeated this claim at his confirmation hearing in 1984.
Higgins is all in a froth that "homosexuality matters. Volitional homosexual behavior is deviant, immoral behavior regardless of its etiology. That moral claim is not only a legitimate but also a necessary moral claim to make publicly." That's just a typical Christianist argument. It's boring.
What got me fascinated by Higgins was this paragraph:
Same-sex desire and volitional homosexual acts are analogous to polyamorous desire and volitional polyamorous acts, all of which are legitimate conditions for moral assessment and moral disapproval. Most voters would want to know if a candidate embraced polyamory; most voters would reject a candidate for his affirmation of polyamory and his engagement in polyamorous behavior; and those who rejected such a candidate would not be vilified for their political decision or called poly-haters and polyphobes.That raised my eyebrows: it's the first time I've heard anyone from the Christianist side of the table actually use the term "polyamory" without sneer quotes. It's as if Higgins is unaware that the term is less than twenty years old and is still contentious even within the Polyamory community.
The take-away here is that poly is winning: by framing it in the same context as homosexuality, as a legitimate civil arrangement, rather than depicting it in ways similar to swinging, the poly community has successfully put its detractors on the defensive.
