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Wayne Besen
PO Box 25491
Brooklyn, NY 11202
Like flowers in spring, the culture war is in full bloom. The most explosive flashpoint this past week was President Obama's pick for the Supreme Court, Sonia Sotomayor. She is under fire for saying, "I would hope a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experience would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life."
Her comments caused the de facto leaders of the Republican Party, Newt Gingrich and Rush Limbaugh, to become apoplectic and accuse her of reverse racism. The battle over her nomination seems like a flashback to the old battles in the 1970s and 80s over identity politics.
In Kansas, George Tiller, a brave and fearless abortion provider, was gunned down in his church. Of course, the anti-abortion fanatics deny any wrongdoing. But, this movement knows full well that when they single out and accuse individuals of killing babies, they are inviting extremists to take vigilante action.
"Who me?" they ask, as they disingenuously feign innocence.
Strangely, the one place a national consensus is building (albeit in its budding stages) is marriage equality. A landmark federal lawsuit by conservative lawyer Ted Olsen and his liberal counterpart David Boies has crystallized this phenomenon. They are charging that denying marriage licenses to gay couples is a violation equal protection and due process under the United States Constitution.
"This is not a liberal or conservative issue," said Olsen on CNN's Larry King Live. "This has to do with human decency, human rights, and equality under the law." On the same show, Boies deftly dispatched the argument that civil unions are acceptable, because they are marriage by another name.
"You're from Japan," Boies said on the show. "You can vote. You can do all the things that other individuals can do who are citizens. But, we are not going to allow you to use the word 'citizen' because you are from another country. That would be discrimination on an unacceptable basis. That is what we have here."
Gay and lesbian legal organizations are incensed by the lawsuit and say it could lead to a huge setback, if it results in a Supreme Court loss. A memorandum sponsored by every major gay rights group titled, "Make Change, Not Lawsuits," essentially tells the interlopers to get lost.
"The history is pretty clear: the U.S. Supreme Court typically does not get too far ahead of either public opinion or the law in the majority of states," says the memo. "The fastest way to win the freedom to marry throughout America is by getting marriage through state courts (to show that fairness requires it) and state legislatures (to show that people support it)."
The conservative columnist George Will echoed their position on ABC's This Week when he warned, "The consensus is moving toward gay marriage if they just let it alone and just let democracy work." He said that if the Supreme Court now ruled in favor of the freedom to marry, it would cause ongoing cultural division, much as the Roe v. Wade decision did with the abortion issue.
Of course, the GLBT organizations are correct in concluding that Olsen and Boies are engaging in a risky strategy that could easily backfire. The one wildcard, in my view, is Chief Justice John Roberts. He is a product of the Federalist Society, the conservative movement's powerful legal association. Olsen's involvement in the Federalist Society may help persuade Roberts to support equality. Or, at least, give him the cover he needs to vote his conscience without accusations of betrayal by conservative colleagues.
The legal issues aside, this case is a boon in the realm of public relations. We now have two of the brightest legal minds winning over the jury of public opinion in the media each day. Dick Cheney and Steve Schmidt, John McCain's campaign manager, are two more conservatives who reinforce marriage equality as a nonpartisan issue.
Even as I write this column, the drumbeat of small victories keep mounting. The Nevada legislature overrode the governor's veto by approving a domestic partnership registry by a two-thirds majority. This week, President Barack Obama signed a gay Pride Month proclamation. The organization Faith in America persuaded a key Baptist writer, David P. Gushee, to call on Christians to offer an apology for the way they have treated LGBT people.
This steroidal push for equality has been supercharged by a group of democratic gay leaders who recently met in Texas to draft, "The Dallas Principles." Much like the Olsen/Boies lawsuit, their goal is to put gay rights on the fast track by pressuring Congress and the Obama administration to take immediate action. Their mantra seems right for this electric moment: "Now is the time for full civil rights for the LGBT Community. No delay. No excuses."
There is still no shortage of culture war vultures like the National Organization for Marriage's dour Maggie Gallagher. But, as more fellow conservatives defect, these zealots are finding their biggest threat is "friendly" fire.
20 Comments:
Yes, even (true) conservatives are coming around and are supporting marriage equality. They are realizing that being on the losing side of this issue isn't a winning proposition. Even Dick Cheney now supports same-sex marriage, and for good reason.
The only idea in this article that I disagree with is the description of Tiller the Baby Killer as a "brave and fearless" abortion provider.
It hardly takes courage to kill a growing, defenseless fetus. Tiller killed 60,000 of them. Many were "late term" abortions. Killing an unborn baby and throwing his dead body into a wastebasket sickens me. The man got rich off of it, but it was hardly anything that entitles him to respect. He doesn't deserve to be lauded, and I for one don't apologize for not celebrating his misguided life.
posted by Chris L., at
6/02/2009 1:16 PM
I couldn't disagree more Chris. It takes a lot of courage to do a job you know you might get killed for. There's no rational way to deny that.
posted by Priya Lynn, at
6/02/2009 2:04 PM
Its a pity Cheney couldn't make the statement while he was V.P. early on in the Bush administration. It does however put Obama in a very uncomfortable situation though.
Chris, whether you agree or disagree with abortions, several of the pro-life organizations have been celebrating the murder of Dr. Tiller, who was providing a service that is legal in his state. Bill O'Reilly and the none-legitimate pro-life organizations have been saying some pretty inflammatory things about this doctor and in the case of O'Reilly, since 2005. He now denies making any such comments which have been documented, comments that may have contributed to inciting the assassin to go out and kill this poor man who was doing a job he was paid to do by the state in which he lived. So much for their double standard on the preservation of human life, these are the same people who believe in the death penalty.
I can't believe that in the 21st century, this country is still having problems with this one issue, unlike the more progressive western societies where this isn't even a political issue, let alone a wedge issue. This is all about religion again, rearing its ugly head. These organizations that glorify in bombing clinics and assassinating doctors are nothing more than terrorists. In this country, a woman has a right to choose and its nobody's business but the mother's. Until men can have babies, they should shut the hell up and keep their religious beliefs in their homes where it belongs and out of politics. Its an indirect way of imposing religious beliefs on the rest of us and not all of us are believers. These terrorists realize they can't overturn Roe v. Wade so they resort to violence and killing, rather ironic.
posted by Anonymous, at
6/02/2009 3:34 PM
No legitimate pro-life organization supports the murder of any abortionist. My opposition to abortion is not grounded in religion, as I am an agnostic. It is grounded in science. An abortionist is hardly someone who should be held up and celebrated.
The rate of abortion in our society is a sad commentary on our culture. Of course, I am unlike most people on this board, and I acknowledge that. I view the cessation of a growing baby's life, either inside or outside of the womb, as a tragedy.
As for Bill O'Reilly, he did what progressives like us should applaud and protect: he spoke his mind. Nothing he said could even remotely be construed as enticing anyone to murder an abortionist. O'Reilly decried the fact that Tiller was a major provider of late term abortions, and he was perfectly within his right to do so.
posted by Chris L., at
6/02/2009 4:50 PM
Well, the marriage equality thingy too a hit today when the Illinois General Assembly voted strongly against civil unions. Even after activist Rick Garcia made the prediction that H.B. 2234 would “absolutely” pass. Well guys, his prediction did not come true. Garcia’s allies fell well short of the backing needed to call for a floor vote — despite their huge, well-funded lobbying campaign. We are far far from home. There are many conservative strongholds in this country. They will take years to soften if they soften at all.
posted by JayJay, at
6/02/2009 10:27 PM
I am with most of your comments about abortion. It ain't good. killing Mr. Tiller ain't good.
posted by JayJay, at
6/02/2009 10:29 PM
Sure, O'Reilly spoke his mind, and his words were hate-filled lies. He called Tiller a killer and a murderer countless times. If that were true, Tiller would have been arrest, trial and conviction. But as I'm sure you're aware, Chris, whether you like it or not, a fetus is not considered a human being with legal rights in any developed country. You may prefer the legal system of countries like El Salvador and Honduras, where the Roman Catholic Church has full sway and women who have abortions are handed jail terms, but we are not a theocracy here yet.
O'Reilly further lied by implying that women had late-term abortions on a whim (or, as he said, because "they had a pain in their foot"). In fact, late-term abortions are virtually always performed because of serious medical conditions (such as anencephaly), some of which threaten the life of the mother. Would you carry an anencephalic fetus for ten or twelve months, knowing that it would die shortly after birth?
Of course it wouldn't have crossed O'Reilly's mind to have mentioned that late-term abortions were a very small percentage of terminated pregnancies even at Tiller's clinic. So much for accurate reporting, and better to focus on the image of "drilling into the brains of 24-month-old fetuses." That's so much more emotionally-satisfying to the Fox family.
I wonder how you feel, Chris, about O'Reilly's approach to reporting on GLBT issues? Are you just as proud of him for speaking his calumny against us?
I probably don't consider O'Reilly culpable of Tiller's death in a legal sense, but I'm not a lawyer. However, there is a type of shared responsibility involved--the common hysteria of the lynch mob or those who prepare suicide bombers for their missions.
And then, are you trying to imply that people have abortions simply because they are legally available in this country? Why don't you have a look at the state of sex education in this country, as well as the availability of contraceptives, and then look at who wants to suppress those things.
posted by Anonymous, at
6/02/2009 10:30 PM
I'm with Soniya on this. A fetus is not a human being...it is at best a potential life and if I must choose between life and potential life, I will always support that which is here.
It is interesting that some men are so ung up on the subject-they do not have to live with the result if the woman is forced to carry the fetus to term. It is still true that a woman has most of the hassle and effort of raising kids.
Like someone in the women's movement once said, "If men could get pregnant, abortion would be a sacrament."
I can well imagine OReilly's bullshit fanning a desire for "judgement" and execution of Dr. Tiller. These people claim to be so fucking religious and yet, they feel it is their place to be jury, judge and executioner.
It will be a blessed day when the anti-abortion movement fades into oblivion. BTW, Chris, many anti-choice people are some of the most homophobic individuals I have ever met.
posted by Merlyn, at
6/03/2009 12:39 AM
A fetus is not potential life. It is life. Modern science has made this point over and over again. Life begins at conception. I am not sure where people are coming from when they don't understand that what is growing inside of a woman is a wonderful life. I am into justice for blacks, Asians, Hispanics, whites, gays, and the unborn. There is a tremedous link between what homosexuals are striving for and for those who support pro-life. It's all about justice. We have to protect the rights of the unborn
posted by Jeff Winter, at
6/03/2009 9:49 AM
Jeff, human life beginning at conception is strictly a religious belief, usually one held by the catholic cult. A fetus is not a viable human being until its at least 6 months old and surving on its own. Most major western countries accept it and abortion isn't an issue as it is in this screwed up society of ours where religioun holds sway in almost anything to do with sexuality and reproductive rights.
Chris....I was listening to a program on Air America this morning. A caller to the show, a father, described how his wife who not having any health insurance early in the pregnancy (he was out of work and lost coverage) eventually acquired coverage after her husband found new employment, around the fifth month of his wife's pregnancy. Upon having the test during the sixth month, it was found that the "baby" had no kidneys. She had two options, either abort or bring the baby to term in which case it would die within 24 hours. She opted for a late term abortion. Do you condemn the doctors who performed that procedure? Hypothetically speaking, what if you were a straight married male, your wife is pregnant. It is discovered that having the child could endanger the life of your wife and that by bringing the child to term, your wife would die. You'd choose having the baby and allow your wife to die? You'd also condemn the doctor as a murderer even if its legal to do so? This does happen you know but nobody considers it. You'd willingly consent to your wife bringing a child suffering from Down's syndrome to term or some other horrific affliction such as HIV? You can always have or adopt another baby you know.
As for the legitimate pro-life organizations, they're not exactly lamenting Dr. Tiller's murder either and I daresay, some are exuberant in private, the closet hypocrites. Many of them are the biggest hypocrites of all. They decry abortion yet support the death penalty, legal killing of another kind, and I know many catholics who are ardent death penalty supporters.
Further, pro-lifers (the majority of them religious) have no right to shove their views down our throats nor should they have any right to overturn Roe v. Wade either. Its nobody's business but the woman who is bearing the child and if the religious wingnuts, agnostics, atheists don't like it, too damn bad. This is not a theocracy nor is it a fascist state which is what it would be if they had their way. Its tantamount to saying I don't care for religious marriage, but I don't start ballot initiatives to ban it, even though I'd like to. I accept it and live with it, as long as my rights aren't denied or violated. Religious beliefs among others belong in the home and definitely NOT in the political process.
posted by Anonymous, at
6/03/2009 12:41 PM
Sonia, I'm in total support or your statement. O'Reilly had been spewing some very inflammatory language about Dr. Tiller since 2005, it aired on the Rachel Maddow Show this week. A lot of what he said could be construed as veiled hate speech, the kind of language that appeals to fringe groups and individuals who are very receptive to O'Reilly's choice of words and I daresay contributed to Dr. Tiller's murder. Of course, O'Reilly now denies that his language was inflammatory just as he does when he's taken to task on much of his anti-gay rhetoric, the marriage equality issue nothwithstanding. b
posted by Anonymous, at
6/03/2009 12:47 PM
Robert, I don't know where you have been living the past 10 years but life beginning at conception is way beyond a religious belief. Medical science has shown explicitly what the Christian faith has said for 2,000 years that human life begins at conception. Furthermore, my granddaughter was born at 5 1/2 months. She weighed less than a pound. Today she is a healthy 10 year old. So please don't say that viable life begins at 6 months. Robert, you need to do your homework. One more thing...I am not a Catholic and I know a thing or two about cults. Catholicism is not a cult. Robert, you are showing your prejudices by making such claims. As I said before, please do your homework.
posted by Jeff Winter, at
6/03/2009 2:59 PM
I am not a fan of Bill O'Reilly, although he has said that he doesn't care whether or not gay marriage is legal. As for abortion, I recognize the fact that outlawing it may simply drive it underground, which is not effective, of course, since it puts women in grave danger.
The problem with Tiller is that Kansas law forbade late term abortions except in rare cases like a serious danger to the health of the mother. Tiller may have broken that law by aborting viable fetuses without meeting that high standard.
I am aware that abortion will never be outlawed in this country. I think the way to make abortion rare is to provide complete sex education to our children. Abstinence simply doesn't work. People must also be encouraged to use birth control, and it should be made widely available.
Even Bill Clinton has said that abortion should be "rare." If an unborn child were simply a glob of tissue, it wouldn't matter whether it were rare or not, but it is, to me, a tragic choice. I do not, however, stand in judgement of any woman who has one. I see women as victims of abortion, too.
Many "pro-life" people are indeed homophobic. Some are also very authoritative, and that is unacceptable to me. Many of them also support the death penalty, and I find that to be incredibly hypocritical. You can't be "pro-life" and support the death penalty at the same time, or support war, as many of those types do.
posted by Chris L., at
6/03/2009 3:17 PM
Jeff, I will never agree with you on that, but I did not say you were a catholic. I was using that as an example.
I was a former catholic, now an atheist. I refer to almost all religious denominations as cults because that is exactly what they are. They have their leaders, they have their dogma, their doctrine, their belief system that must be adhered to in order to be a member, all of it man-made.
Let me give you a simple example. If the pope tomorrow issued a decree using the papal infallability doctrine (for those who don't know what papal infalliblity is, its when the pope issues a decree that adherents must believe in matters of faith and doctrine and that the pope cannot err because he is guided by the "holy spirit" and is the alledged vicar of Christ on earth)....that abortion, married clergy, same same-sex marriage are ok, none of that would cause believers to leave, they'd accept it because the pope said it was so. Islam and Orthodox Judaism are no different. Its all cultism.
posted by Anonymous, at
6/03/2009 3:19 PM
Jeff, one other thing and I asked Chris the same question. You'd be ok letting your wife or daughter die if having an abortion would save their lives? This is what many women face but nobody takes that into consideration? I suppose you'd agree with it since you are pro-life and therefore you must also be against the death penalty, state sanctioned murder?
posted by Anonymous, at
6/03/2009 3:27 PM
Chris said "Nothing [O'reilly] said could even remotely be construed as enticing anyone to murder an abortionist".
I couldn't disagree with you more. He said Tiller was a murderer and he was killing and that he intended to continue kill.
When someone attempts to kill a person it is considered justifiable homicide to kill that person before he carries out the murder. If O'reilly's listeners took him seriously that Tiller was a murderer and intended to commit more murders they would then be logically justified in killing Tiller to defend people. Not only did O'reilly entice people to murder Tiller, he justified it.
posted by Priya Lynn, at
6/04/2009 1:00 AM
Mr Winter, the idea that life begins at conception is a religious belief. It is not a scientific view. I respect your right to hold that belief, but I disagree.
I think it is extreme to let a full-grown woman die to protect a fetus. The two cannot be compared.
There are religious people, particularly in the ex-gay camp, who also believe that man should not drop seed, so he should not masturbate. I suppose that is not too far from claiming that life begins at ejaculation.
I can understand your distaste for abortion. But it is between a woman and her doctor. The anti-abortion crowd would do much better working to stop unwanted pregnancies and fighting for comprehensive sex education. This would reduce abortion rates, particularly in the Bible Belt, which often has the highest abortion rate.
Outlawing abortion would lead us to coat hanger abortions on CNN. The anti-abortion crowd would ultimately lose the battle of public opinion, even if they won the legal battle. Your plastic fetuses would not stand up so well against bleeding and dying mothers on MSNBC.
Finally, it is difficult to take seriously a movement that believes in "abstinence only education and virginity pledges, when it is proven that they do not work. This tells me that those who continue to support such policies care more about religious dogma than the real people who are affected by this debate.
Let's all work to lower the abortion rate by reducing unwanted pregnancies.
posted by Wayne Besen, at
6/04/2009 6:28 PM
Wayne, thank you, well said as usual!
posted by Anonymous, at
6/05/2009 11:31 AM
So, Dr. Tiller's killer has proved to have direct links to Operation Rescue, one of the legitimate anti-abortion organizations, after evidence was produced. Apparently, bombing of or killing anyone working in a legitimate clinic is a federal crime. The Kansas authorities failed to do anything about Dr. Tiller's killer who days before the murder had frequented the facility and was seen by several witnesses trying to "glue" the entrance to the clinic closed and made threats to one of the employees who alerted the FBI. The FBI in Kansas aparently did nothing to prevent it. Maybe they gave tacit consent by their inaction. Why make laws if they can't be upheld? Someone in the FBI should be fired.
posted by Anonymous, at
6/06/2009 9:32 AM
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