Re: Shapes of a Wedge

I think George's concerns about a slippery slope leading from homosexual
marriage to polygamy/polyandry and on to incest is entirely on target.
Historically, the statehood of Utah depended on Mormons conceding to
traditional Christian opposition to polygamy. In other words, it was a
simple political power play, in which majority religious opinion overcame
the minority who wanted admission to the Union. If homosexual marriage is
legally recognized, the basis (ie, Christian views and Jewish views for two
millenia or more) for opposition to the other possibilties evaporates--at
least where consistency is concerned.

As for bestiality, I recall one of my prof in grad school (a prominent
philosopher who wrote lesbian novels under a pseudonym) saying that there is
no such thing as a consenting sheep. It would be very interesting, to see
animal rights activists defending our barnyard friends from sexual relations
with humans, when some of the same folks might well not have any consistent
basis to defend young boys (who might perhaps be construed to be giving
consent) from being sodomized, indeed they might perhaps advocate that.

This all comes back to a little axiom that occurred to me long ago, "When
there are no rules, there are no rules."

ted
Received on Thu Jun 10 15:52:58 2004