This Image Sums Up The Religious Right and Gay Marriage
Bruce Wilson printable version print page     Bookmark and Share
Wed Nov 07, 2012 at 07:14:08 PM EST
Well, it's not a single picture, it's three pictures (scroll down a few paragraphs to view), and each is an animated GIF. Here's the context:

One of the stunning upset victories of the November 6, 2012 election came when Maine and Maryland voters passed ballot initiatives legalizing same-sex marriage. Another ballot initiative legalizing same-sex marriage is expected to pass in the state of Washington. And a ballot initiative in Minnesota that would have banned same-sex marriage was defeated, 52% to 48%. Topping things off, Wisconsin voters elected the first openly gay U.S. Senator, Tammy Baldwin. Compared to the 2008 election, when ballot initiatives banning same-sex marriage passed in California, Florida, and Arizona, it was a stunning reversal.

But the religious right leadership may just be too dug in to accept the newly emerging mainstream consensus: there's nothing wrong with gay marriage. It doesn't threaten straight marriage, Western Civilization is not at risk, God does not send hurricanes, earthquakes, and flocks of locusts to punish those who allegedly shake their fist at the heavens, by allowing consenting adults, two women or two men, to pledge their troth.

And that brings us to the following images. It's simple:

(1) - The cat is "the religious right".
(2) - the box represents "the crusade against the big, scary, threat to the family, society, and everything good and holy, that's allegedly posed by same-sex marriage".

A few notes: of course, the cat didn't have to shove its head into the box. But it was almost inevitable that it would - it was in the nature of the cat. And because of its nature, once caught in the box the cat can't figure out how to extricate itself.

Like the cat, the religious right could extricate itself from the trap of fighting LBGT rights and declare the decades-long political crusade, launched in 1977 under the leadership of charismatic orange juice queen Anita Bryant, to have been a mistake. But that's unlikely to happen.

The evolution of the religious right as a movement has been defined by its opposition to the LGBT rights movement, and it's far from clear the religious right could even exist in its present form without exploiting powerful emotions centered around LGBT rights to mobilize its base.

Entire books have been written about this, such as Perfect Enemies
The Religious Right, the Gay Movement, and the Politics of the 1990s
, By John Gallagher and Chris Bull (link to Washington Post review of book).

But even though the twin movements co-evolved, in a sort of rough symbiosis, the religious right needs the LGBT rights movement - which in turn doesn't need the religious right at all.

The religious right needs to demonize LGBTI citizens who, for their part, would probably be thrilled if the movement that has for decades demonized them simply vanished from the Earth - or, for that matter, just continued to make an absurd spectacle of itself - kicking its hind legs like a cat whose head is caught in an empty cardboard soft drink carton.  




Display:
My own have done similar stunts many times! But, then, they are cats. And cats don't assess consequences very well. People, OTOH, should be doing so. I watched the Romney and Obama watch parties on live streaming, and I was struck by the vast difference. The Romney group was homogenous, the Obama group was a really good cross section of humanity. Either the right opens the tent flaps, or the other tent will take in all those denied entry. (Had to love the Jewish guy with the Obama yarmulke, LOL!)

by phatkhat on Wed Nov 07, 2012 at 07:47:51 PM EST
I like cats, but my S.O. is allergic.

"cats don't assess consequences very well. People, OTOH, should be doing so." -- Yes, they probably should. But they won't, at least for the immediate future.

by Bruce Wilson on Wed Nov 07, 2012 at 08:03:08 PM EST
Parent



That proves it, cats are dumber than dogs.

by Villabolo on Wed Nov 07, 2012 at 09:56:20 PM EST


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