After a lovely Mother’s Day, I awoke to a dispiriting collection of news stories that point to the rapid degradation of truth and, therefore, the public weal. Here are just three:

1.)  Barack Obama’s Defense Secretary, Chuck Hagel, wants the prohibition of cross-dressers serving in the military to be reviewed, saying that “every qualified American who wants to serve our country should have an opportunity if they fit the qualifications and can do it.”

Mara Kiesling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, said that “These are amazing people who serve even though they must hide a basic part of who they are.”

The Leftist “identity” monster rears its ugly head again. For Leftists, identity is simply the aggregate of the (primarily sexual) feelings that they feel intensely; unilaterally and self-referentially decide are good; and upon which they seek to act. Oh, and their great moral absolute is that all of society must affirm their definition of identity.

We’ve got men who are sexually attracted to men serving in the military, so why not men who wish they were women? If we’re going to destroy military readiness, strength, and cohesion, why not go whole ruby lips hog.  Just remember, in addition to the pesky issues of readiness, strength, and cohesion to consider, there’s this: The federal government—that is to say, Americans—will be footing the bill for the surgical and chemical mutilation of men and women who seek a more elaborate disguise of their true sex.

2.) Mary Lambert, the young lesbian singer who wrote and sings the hook in Macklemore’s wildly successful pro-homosexual anthem “Same Love,” talks here about the sexual abuse she endured at the hands of multiple men over the course of her childhood. Add Lambert’s name to the growing list of famous “gays” who have shared that they were abused as children.

And still no media discussion of the connection between childhood molestation and the development of same-sex attraction. While ignoring that connection, Leftists battle on trying to prevent all minors from getting counseling for unwanted same-sex attraction, including those whose same-sex attraction may be the result of abuse. Those homosexual activists and their ideological accomplices will exploit even the abuse of children as long as it serves their ultimate goal of normalizing homoerotic acts and relationships.

To make matters worse, in the face of this political exploitation of child abuse, many conservatives think we should never be angry about issues related to the normalization of perversion.

3.) Arkansas state judge, Chris Piazza, ignored the will of a majority of Arkansans when he overturned their ban on the legal recognition of same-sex unions as marriages. In so doing, he employed one of the central and staggeringly stupid arguments commonly heard from homosexual activists and talking hollow-heads.

He compared prohibitions of same-sex faux-marriages to bans on interracial marriages, which makes sense only if one can prove that skin color is analogous to homoerotic relations and if one can prove that marriage has no inherent nature relative to procreative potential—neither of which did Piazza do.

If, as Piazza seems foolishly to believe, marriage has no inherent connection to the procreative potential that arises from sexual complementarity, then he must overturn prohibitions of sibling marriages, marriages between parents and children, and plural marriages, because those bans result from a belief that marriage is connected to procreative potential and the natural rights and needs of children.

In fact, it is the recognition that marriage is related to procreation that made the bans on interracial marriages so pernicious. Since marriage is connected to reproduction and people of different races can procreate, it became obvious that bans on interracial marriage were based on nothing more than racial prejudice. Such bans prevented real marriages from being recognized by the government.

Prohibiting same-sex unions from being recognized as marriages does not ban real marriages from being recognized as marriages. It bans homoerotic unions—which are not marital in nature—from being recognized as marriage. Homoerotic unions may be real unions that involve real emotional connection, but they’re not marital unions.

Similarly, platonic relationships may be real relationships that involve real and deep emotional connection, but they’re not marital. If marriage is re-conceived to be the union of those who deeply love one another with no inherent connection to reproductive capacity, than there’s no logical reason to limit it to only two people or to only those in an erotic relationship. What possible interest does the government have in inherently sterile erotic relationships? There is neither a government interest in inherently sterile types of relationships or in affirming love between two people.

This is not to say that all marriages can or do reproduce. The government has no business in ascertaining fertility or compelling reproduction. Rather, government has a vested interest in recognizing and regulating the type of union that naturally results in children. It does so because protecting the needs and rights of children affects the public good in countless ways.

Surprisingly, Judge Piazza acknowledged that “…marriage is not expressly identified as a fundamental right in the Constitution….” Rights are accorded to individuals—not to couples. Those who choose to place their unchosen homoerotic feelings at the center of their identity have the right to marry. They always have. They have had the right to participate in the sexually complementary institution of marriage. Many choose not to. Instead, they seek to redefine it. They seek the unilateral right to redefine marriage in their own image.

“Minor-attracted persons” do not have the right to jettison the criterion pertaining to age. Those in incestuous relationships do not have the right to jettison the blood kinship criterion. And those who are in homoerotic relationships should not be allowed to jettison the most fundamental, enduring, and cross-cultural criterion of sexual complementarity without which unions are not marital.

Another feckless statement of Piazza’s echoes the sentiments of Anthony Kennedy who finds animus lurking behind any argument that dissents from the “identity” dogma of the “LGBTQIIA” movement:

Same-sex couples are a morally disliked minority and the constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriages is driven by animus rather than a rational basis. 

Of course there are rational reasons to defend marriage as inherently sexually complementary. If Piazza and Kennedy are unaware of rational, secular arguments, they need to read more broadly. Ryan Anderson, Sherif Girgis, and Robert George have outlined them in their important book What is Marriage?: Man and Woman: a Defense. 

Before activist judges in thrall to the presumptuous homosexual activist bullies decide which marriage criterion to throw overboard, they really should understand what marriage actually is.

Some may remember the scene from the film Moonstruck in which Cher slaps Nicholas Cage upside the head and yells “Snap out of it.” Somebody better slap the conservative community upside its collective head before the federal government spends all its time cooing at homosexuality.

Recently, the lovestruck Department of Justice, White House, and Congress have wasted valuable time and public resources servicing homosexual activists via a White House conference, a Department of Justice video, and three proposed bills.

Last week, President Barack Obama held an “anti-bullying” (nudge nudge, wink wink) conference at the White House to which he invited the infamous homosexual “safe schools” czar Kevin Jennings; openly homosexual Fort Worth city councilman Joel Burns; the 16-year-old executive direct of Gays and Lesbians United Against Discrimination; at least two representatives from the Gay, Lesbian and Straight “Education” Network; someone from the Human Rights Campaign; someone from the National Center for Transgender Equality; and someone from the Trevor Project.

The White House also invited the foul-mouthed, anti-Christian homosexual activist Dan Savage, creator of the “It Gets Better” project. Savage said the conference was “of tremendous symbolic importance,” but also complained that “What was never addressed is when the parents are the bullies.” Someone should ascertain exactly what Savage views as parental “bullying.”

The government has created a website dedicated to ending bullying, a noble mission concealing an ignoble ultimate goal and troubling underlying philosophy. The underlying philosophy includes three central assumptions: 1. Homosexuality is equivalent to race, 2. Homosexuality is morally positive, and 3. The expression of conservative moral beliefs constitutes illegitimately discriminatory speech, which contributes to bullying.

The ultimate goal is the eradication of conservative moral beliefs and the creation of a social and legal climate that make it impossible for them to be expressed. For those who have eyes to see, the website offers clues to this goal and philosophy.

There are three image links at the bottom of the homepage: one is a link to information on cyberbullying; one is a link to information on the White House Conference; and one is a link to information on “LGBT Bullying.” Remarkable. Of all the conditions for which students may be bullied, there’s a special image link and section dedicated to only two: homosexuality and “transgenderism” (more accurately, Gender Identity Disorder). Not one other disorder gets special attention — not attention deficit disorder, not attention deficit hyper activity disorder, not Asperger’s Syndrome.

And homosexuality and “transgenderism” are the only conditions constituted by subjective feelings and volitional acts that many consider immoral that get special attention. Promiscuous students and drug-users, for example, are often bullied. Why don’t those conditions get image links to their own special sections?

This Obama administration effort follows close on the heels of a pinheaded and inappropriate decision by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to create a video for Dan Savage’s “It Gets Better” project. Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division Thomas Perez showed the DOJ video to public high school students in Silver Spring, Maryland. Here are a few of the comments made by DOJ employees, most of whom identify as homosexual, in their roles as government employees:

• “Being different is cool.”
• “Don’t be ashamed of who you are. Keep being yourself.”
• “If I knew when I was eight that the thing that was causing me so much pain… would actually define me in a way that makes me very, very proud, I would get through it.”

These should be shocking comments to hear in a publicly funded project of the federal government. The federal government has made the astonishing public claims that homosexuality is “cool”; that no one should be ashamed of homosexuality; and that homosexuality should be a source of pride. The individuals who appear in this video are, of course, entitled to their own non-factual ontological and moral beliefs. In their roles as government employees, however, they have no right to promote those unproven, subjective, non-factual beliefs.

This video should be a public scandal. Imagine if philosophically conservative government employees appeared in a publicly funded video in their professional roles, saying that it is not cool to engage in homosexual acts; that homosexual acts are shameful; and that homosexuality is not something of which to be proud.

It is objectively true that no one should be bullied. It is not objectively true that homosexuality is cool; that people should keep living a homosexual life; or that homosexuality is worthy of pride or respect. No employee of the government acting in their official position has any right to promote those arguable moral beliefs.

At the conclusion of the high school propaganda session, likely held during Mr. Perez’s working hours, students were invited to sign the “It Gets Better” pledge, the first sentence of which states, “Everyone deserves to be respected for who they are.” A feckless statement, but oh so persuasive with non-thinking people. The statement suggests without stating that those who identify as homosexual should be respected for their homosexuality. That is a moral proposition which is widely rejected and which no representative of the government has any right to promote in their professional role.

Everyone deserves to be respected because they’re human beings created in the likeness of God. It should be obvious, however, that not every subjective feeling or behavioral choice is worthy of respect. Humans deserve to be respected for their humanness in spite of their disordered inclinations and immoral volitional acts.

But it’s not just the executive branch that’s dancing to GLSEN’s gay tunes. Our homosexuality-affirming legislators have been busy little bees of late, including our very own junior U.S. Senator, Mark Kirk. The technically Republican Kirk, who has a special fondness for all pro-homosexual legislation, has joined 18 Democratic senators and one independent to introduce the Senate version of the Safe Schools Improvement Act — S. 506, which will deny elementary, middle, and high schools federal funds to combat drugs and violence unless they also agree to explicitly address homosexuality and transgenderism.

Openly homosexual U.S. Representative Jared Polis (D-CO) and comedian U.S. Senator Al Franken (D-MN) have re-introduced their recently moribund Student Non-Discrimination Act (SNDA) bill — H.R. 998. According to the Human Rights Campaign, this act “would prevent schools from discriminating against students because of the actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity of a person with whom that student associates or has associated.” If passed, SNDA will be used to censor any resources that express the view that volitional homosexual acts are not moral acts.

The Human Rights Campaign makes the amusing claim that SNDA has “broad support.” Here are the organizations that they offer as evidence of breadth of support:

SNDA is has broad support from over 33 national organizations, including: The American Association of University Women, American Federation of Teachers, American Civil Liberties Union, American Psychological Association, American School Counselor Association, Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, Family Equality Council, Gay-Straight Alliance Network, GLAD (Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders), GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network), Human Rights Campaign, Lambda Legal, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People), National Association of School Psychologists, National Association of School Safety and Law Enforcement Officials, National Association of Secondary School Principals, National Center for Transgender Equality, National Council of Jewish Women, National Council of La Raza, National Education Association, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Action Fund, National Women’s Law Center, PFLAG (Parents, Families, & Friends of Lesbians and Gays), People for the American Way, SAVE (Suicide Awareness Voices of Education), School Social Work Association of America, The Trevor Project and Transgender Law Center.

But that’s not all, two New Jersey lawmakers have recently reintroduced the troubling “Tyler Clementi Higher Education Anti-Harassment Act,” which will require colleges and universities that receive federal funds to add “sexual orientation” to their anti-discrimination policies, and asks for a “$250 million grant program to help schools form or expand campus anti-bullying programs.” The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) is repeating its warning about the dangers this bill poses to First Amendment rights.

And if our busy legislative bees fail in these efforts to pollinate our schools with their unproven, unstated ontological and moral propositions on homosexuality and Gender Identity Disorder, it is reported that they will simply hide their dubious pieces of legislation in the Elementary and Secondary School Act, which is “the key federal statute governing primary and secondary education.”

When will our ideologically askew and overreaching administration compel Americans to abandon their cowardly, unilateral “truce” on the “social issues”? C’mon, conservatives, snap out of it!

Take ACTION: Contact your federal elected representatives and tell them not to support any legislation or taxpayer subsidized efforts that espouse either implicitly or explicitly the following ideas: that homosexuality is normative, good, a source of pride, ontologically analogous to race, or morally equivalent to heterosexuality. Such ideas are non-factual, unproven, controversial assumptions. No arm of the government has any business using public money to advance them.

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