Andrew Sullivan and Same Sex Marriage

The big picture of Andrew Sullivan's argument against the socially conservative position regarding same-sex marriage is that he uses the declared moral stance of social conservatives to expose as logically fallacious their declarations against same-sex marriage. To do this he begins with the assertion that the "public acceptance of homosexuality" (1998, p. 446) threatens the stability and identity of the conventional heterosexual nuclear family. The problem with that assertion is that so many social conservatives admit that homosexuality is not necessarily an elective of human experience. That makes homosexuals ipso facto part of conventional heterosexual families, and in that context rejecting homosexuality creates emotional chaos that could foster homosexual family members' hostility rather than generosity toward the conventional family institutions. Thus rejection is self-defeating on its face. To social conservatives who say that rejection fosters less chaos than acceptance, Sullivan counters that rejection may actually push the rejected homosexual family member toward the so-called "homosexual life," which is perceived as fraught with "fleeting" emotional commitment, promiscuity, disease, and social ostracism (p. 447). In other words, intrinsic rejection fosters intrinsic hostility toward the family, which in turn foments an "outrT" lifestyle that makes homosexuality outside the bounds of the essential nature of family, or extrinsic to conventional family structure, in t

Related Essays

Homosexuality .... Sullivan, Andrew. .... of Marriage Act, which limits the definition of marriage to that .... one woman, allowing states to keep from recognizing same-.... weddings held .... (2064 8 )

Arkansas House Bill 1119 Introduction: In his book: Same-sex marriage: Pro and Con: a Reader, Andrew Sullivan writes that homosexual marriage and by extension the right of gay couples .... (1488 6 )

Orthodox Catholicism & Social Issues .... in America that a vote in favor of same-sex marriage would be .... Not surprisingly, the same document that insisted that American politicians .... 82. Sullivan, Andrew. .... (1510 6 )

Influence of Religion in Politics .... in America that a vote in favor of same-sex marriage would be .... Not surprisingly, the same document that insisted that American politicians .... 82. Sullivan, Andrew. .... (1510 6 )

Category: People - A