Coming Out (and at ’em)

Last updated on: November 20, 2012 at 5:10 pm by Leah Libresco

Coming Out (and at ’em) 2012-11-20T17:10:54-05:00 Leah Libresco

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

(UPDATE: It looks like some of you have questions about bisexuality. Feel free to ask them in the comments and I’ll answer them in tomorrow’s post)

Today is National Coming Out Day (the link goes to Lambda Legal, not HRC, since Lambda puts donations to work on activism and HRC throws party for legislators without much to show for it). That makes today a good day to mention that I’m bisexual to any new readers I’ve picked up here at Patheos.

I mention it because, when you write a blog about theological disputes you have with your Catholic boyfriend, it takes a deliberate effort to not pass for straight. I want to be out about my sexuality for the same reasons I’m out about my atheism. In both cases, I’m part of a small demographic, so, if I’m not out and accessible, I lower the odds that people around me will know they know an atheist or a bisexual person. I don’t want stereotypes to fester in silence, I want to be available for dialogue. (Though I’m certainly not doing much to dispel any stereotypes of atheists as motormouths).

In that spirit, I want to open up a conversation about gay marriage on two specific questions. You can bring up other LGBT-related things in the comments, but I can’t guarantee I’ll address them, since I want to keep the conversation focused.

Question One is just a repeat of the question I asked in “Put Your Money Where Your Marriage Is.”

If you think the legalization of gay marriage will have severe negative effects, I want to hear from all of you about what specific data you expect. Tell me how you’ll make your beliefs pay rent. One caveat: I don’t want citations for research that’s been conducted. That’s going to derail everyone into methodological nitpicking. I want open ended brainstorming, not problems with anchoring effects and privileging the hypothesis.

The same caveats apply as last time: its fine to claim as evidence events that liberals don’t necessarily see as poor outcomes (increase in polyamory, more cohabitation, etc). All you have to do is explain what evidence you expect to see with enough detail that the prediction is testable. (So, “I predict that more children will be born out of wedlock” is better than “Children will be worse off”). Let us know if you think a prediction reflects your true rejection – if it doesn’t come true, would you reconsider your opposition?

But maybe your anticipated consequences don’t fit into an empirical model (e.g. “I predict more souls will go to Hell”). Fortunately, you (and everyone else) can still take a crack at…

Question Two: If you think gay marriage is a bad idea, is your justification accessible to people outside your faith?

Some moral laws that religions promote seem like a good idea to pretty much everyone (e.g. “Thou shalt not kill”). But others only make sense if you’ve already accepted the basic premise of the religion. There’s no good way to convince a secular Jew to keep kashrut unless you can convince them that there’s a god who has chosen them and requires their obedience. So where on this spectrum would you put the gay marriage question?

If you’ve got it in the cloth-of-two-fabrics category, I don’t see that’s there’s any point in trying to sell heathens like me on the law before you’ve gotten us on board with a Lawgiver. If you’re more of a natural law type, perhaps you’d like to write a guest post.

Uncategorized

gay marriage

lgbt

making beliefs pay rent

no war but culture war

open questions

Previous Post

October 10, 2011

Retronymic Marriage

Next Post

October 12, 2011 Bisexuality Q&A

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category 7 Quick Takes Apologetics Atheism Book Conversion Debate Tactics Debates Epistemology/Philosophy Housekeeping Ideological Turing Test Marriage Morality in Practice Parsing Catholicism Possibly Heretical Radio Reviews/Recommendations Sequence Index Spiritual Practice Uncategorized

Select a Month April 2017 March 2017 January 2017 December 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What is the name of the lake into which the beast and false prophet are thrown?

Select your answer to see how you score.

The abyss Gehenna The lake of burning sulfur (lake of fire) The outer darkness