cognitive dissident

Paul Shlichta examines "Some Logical Corollaries of California's Gay Marriage Decision" at American Thinker.

Consider, for example, two old friends of mine, Felix and Oscar, who have shared an apartment for decades. Their friendship has no homoerotic overtones; they are in fact persistently if unsuccessfully heterosexual. The legalization of gay marriages wouldn't help them a bit. But if they were to claim to be gay partners, they would, under the present CSC [California Supreme Court] decision, be eligible for all the advantages of a gay marriage. If that isn't "discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation", please tell me what is.

Sure, I'll tell you; this odd couple of friends would be committing fraud by "claim[ing] to be gay partners" in order to obtain marriage benefits. It is true--but irrelevant--that "[t]he legalization of gay marriages wouldn't help them a bit," but as straight men they are already able to marry (women, as they prefer) under current state law; people in a legally advantageous position don't need "help."

Shlichta's example doesn't prove some sort of reverse-sexual-orientation-discrimination, although the new law does create the potential for straight people to commit same-sex marriage fraud (just as they can do now with opposite-sex partners). This possibility for abuse (Chuck & Larry, anyone?) is insignificant compared to the positive benefits of recognizing the marriages of same-sex couples.

Over at American Prospect, Paul Waldman wonders about "The Backlash That Wasn't," and asks "why is it that same-sex marriage doesn't seem to have the political potency it did just a few years ago?"

We've been down this road before. It has been four and a half years since same-sex marriages were legalized in Massachusetts, and for some reason the Bay State has not descended into a perverted bacchanal, families have not been torn asunder by the destructive power of these new unions, and the bonds holding society together have not been torn to shreds. Incredibly, the prophesies of doom were wrong.

[...]

With each passing year, straight Americans become more and more comfortable with gay Americans. This doesn't mean their opinions on marriage are going to be transformed overnight, but it does mean that they will be less susceptible to scare tactics.