Chinese, US Leaders Find Common Ground
China reaffirmed its ban on same-sex marriage earlier this week, while removing some bureaucratic obstacles to hetero marriages. It's not hard to see why a police state, driven by a combination of traditionalist and totalitarian mores, would feel a need to prohibit something it regards as both "unnatural" (traditionalist) and "antisocial" (totalitarian).
It's a little more puzzling why it's an issue in the United States, an ostensibly democratic society, supposedly populated by individuals who make freely-chosen decisions, as opposed to ones based on groupthink and hand-me-down norms. One obvious candidate for a reason is that the issue unites a number of different constituencies in hate. Yep, it's one of those famous coaltion-builders that forges temporary unity among disparate groups who normally couldn't stand to be with each other in the same room. Klansmen in stagnant Midwestern burgs, culturally conservative minorities, and easygoing suburbanites all tend to oppose gay marriage, with varying degrees of frenzy. Bush needs the suburban vote and he also needs the fearful backwaters.
Whatever the reason, it's a disgrace. It proves once again that any form of state-sponsored discrimination is possible in this country as long as the demographics support it.
1:19:52 PM 
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