"I don’t support gay marriage despite being a Conservative. I support gay marriage because I’m a Conservative." As British PM David Cameron stated his position on the matter to his party conference some months ago, these words will surely become part of our history.
There are plenty of things I don't agree with Cameron on. For example, I celebrate multiculturalism. I am all for a strong social welfare system. I guess I am just a liberal who cares for social justice when it comes to economic matters. But I have to admit on social matters, I am generally quite conservative. Granted I usually come on the libertarian side on social matters, but my personal preference remains conservative.
A long time ago I used to be, well, homophobic. Why? Like all those idiots out there, I thought that gay people were hedonistic, often prosmiscuous, with no semblance of family values. Still, in the interest of upholding my libertarian values I principally supported marriage equality. But regarding my 'understanding' of gay people, how wrong was I?
Gay couples are as able to commit and form families as straight couples, and that's what matters. That's why they want, and need, marriage equality. Granted there are other ways to recognise and encourage commitment, as I have said before, but equal treatment shouldn't be denied to ANY couple willing to commit for life, and thus contribute to our basic social fabric.
No fault divorce, 'social' abortions, polyamorous 'couples', sexualised popular music etc. are all things that I have concluded I must tolerate out of my libertarian principles, but continue to make my conservative heart cringe. Same-sex marriages, however, are a different thing. They are something to cherish, something to celebrate. Something that, as many of our generation would like to say, I truly 150% support.
What we need now is more fellow social conservatives to come out, saying the same thing.
-
The evidence is solid, despite the loud and desperate denials Recently, there has been a lot of discussion about whether there is a 'wok...
-
A shared values approach is what we need going forward In my recent article titled 'There Really is a Woke Right, and it is a Grave Thre...
-
The ruling class is behind the grandiose thinking that has caused division and polarization Lately, I have been thinking a lot about why so-...
