FROM THE PRESIDENT’S DESK
William Donohue
Many years ago, Harvard sociologist Daniel Patrick Moynihan said he was stunned by the swiftness of cultural change that took place in the 1960s. In particular, he cited the overnight conversion to co-ed dorms on college campuses. Lots of changes took place during this period, but fast as they were, their pace looks comparatively slow when measured against the lightening speed by which the homosexual agenda has proceeded in recent years. Indeed, it seems as though our culture is being driven by the Gay Express.
Estimated at only a few percent of the population, homosexuals project a larger presence partly because so many of them are strategically situated in the cultural command centers of the media, Hollywood, the professoriate, and the publishing world. The clergy do not lack for disproportionate numbers either, and I don’t mean merely in Catholic circles: the Episcopalian clergy, especially on the coasts, is heavily gay. But there aren’t enough homosexuals in society to score such dramatic gains all by themselves, which is why sympathetic heterosexuals are the real key.
The American people are not the problem, the elites are. In 32 states where voters have been asked to decide whether to expand the definition of marriage to cover homosexuals, none has agreed to do so. Even in California, one of the most liberal states in the nation, the people said no. In the few states where gay marriage is legal, the people were never consulted: either the state legislature, or a judge, granted two men the right to marry. And in places like New York State, lawmakers never even had a public hearing on the issue.
This fall things may change. The issue of gay marriage is on the ballot in four states, all of which have a reputation of being either liberal or decidedly independent: Maine, Maryland, Minnesota and Washington. Helping the pro-gay marriage forces are super-wealthy contributors to President Barack Obama and former Governor Mitt Romney. In fact, they are lavishing millions in the push for gay marriage in these states.
In the case of Obama, many of his most generous donors are big contributors to gay causes. The Human Rights Campaign, the most powerful gay advocacy group in the nation, is wedded to the Obama campaign. By the middle of August, they had already amassed over $5 million to spend on the November elections. And, of course, the Democratic Party platform broke new ground this year by endorsing gay marriage. Why not? The president has.
Leading the charge for gay marriage in the Romney camp are Paul Singer, Cliff Asness, Dan Loeb and Ken Mehlman. Singer is the founder of a $20 billion hedge fund called Elliott Management Corporation, based in New York; his son is a homosexual. Asness is co-founder of AQR Capital Management in Greenwich, Connecticut. Dan Loeb is the founder of the $8.7 billion Third Point LLC in New York. Both Asness and Loeb supported Obama in 2008, but are not happy with the way he is handling economic issues, so this time they’re supporting Romney. Mehlman was President George W. Bush’s campaign manager in 2004, and is the former chairman of the Republican National Committee. He announced he was a homosexual in 2010.
Now you know why neither Obama nor Romney said a word about the Chick-fil-A issue that exploded over the summer. All they had to do was to say that it is wrong for mayors to tell businessmen to take a walk just because they disagree with the politics of the owner. Moreover, Dan Cathy, the owner of Chick-fil-A, never uttered an anti-gay remark, yet gay activists and their elite heterosexual friends came thundering down on his head. Recall what happened.
“We are inviting God’s judgment on our nation when we shake our fist at Him and say, ‘We know better than you as to what constitutes a marriage.’” This unremarkable statement is what set off a culture war. Immediately, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, whose city is in a state of warfare, had the audacity to speak for all Chicagoans: “Chick-fil-A values are not Chicago values.”
The mayors of Pittsburgh, San Francisco, and the District of Columbia also chimed in, but none sounded more ludicrous than Boston’s Tom Menino. After boasting, “we’re a city that’s at the forefront of inclusion,” he summarily decided to exclude Chick-fil-A. Fortunately, former governor and talk-show host Mike Huckabee called for Christians to step up to the plate, and thousands turned out to patronize local stores.
It is a bad sign when people like Rep. Barney Frank, who claims to be married to his boyfriend, as well as liberals like Alan Dershowitz and the folks at the ACLU, can summon the moral courage to denounce these censorial mayors, and yet neither presidential candidate has it in him to do likewise.
No one but a bully wants to punish homosexuals or to stop them from participating in American life free of intimidation. But that is not the issue: at stake is whether those who believe in marriage, traditionally defined, should be the object of punishment and intimidation. That’s how far the Gay Express has come. It’s time this train was derailed.
