Kudos to Jon Stewart for his interview this evening with Gov. Mike Huckabee. It was a two segment interview with the first part devoted to promoting Mike’s new book, “Do the Right Thing, Inside the Movement That’s Bringing Common Sense Back to America”. From my point of view, an incredibly ironic title given his stance in the second interview segment, where Jon presses him to expound upon his position against the right to gay marriage.
These guys bandy back and forth the talking points of social conservatives on the matter. Paraphrasing here:
MH: Marriage is the traditional bond between man and woman as institutionalized over the past 5000 years.
JS: Marriage has been repeatedly redefined throughout history, from the polygamist days of the Old Testament to now.
MH: If we change the definition of marriage we’ll have to give unlawful polygamists the right to marry as many partners as they like.
JS: Why is polygamy an issue here, you yourself say all people are created equal yet you believe it would be corrosive to society to allow gay people the same rights everyone else enjoys.
MH: Marriage is a privilege under law and not a right.
JS: So what if we made it so Hispanic people can’t vote?
MH: Well I don’t think that would be a very good idea.
JS: So why can’t gay people get married?
MH: Well because marriage still means a union between a man and a woman.
Sigh. Rinse and repeat. I was already starting to tune out at this point. As is so often the case when debating the far right and left side of an argument, no middle ground is ever really found. Stewart comes through for me though and presses the law point a bit more, citing it wasn’t too long ago that segregation was law. At this point Huckabee comes back with:
“But there’s a big difference between a person being black, and a person practicing a lifestyle and engaging in a martial relationship…”
Ding ding ding! It’s not like I don’t know about the two trains of thought regarding sexual orientation, ie a choice as opposed to simply the way you are, however this is the first time I’ve applied it directly to the gay marriage debate. This is the fulcrum point the right and left are stuck pivoting around, the one that won’t allow them to find any common ground. If Mike Huckabee honestly believes I or any other LGBT individual has willfully selected a lifestyle open to ridicule, discrimination, and violence, I can see how he’d be defensive of a traditional institution…
Come, the fuck, on! Anway, the interview progresses for a couple more minutes, including one priceless quote from Stewart:
“Religion is far more of a choice than homosexuality, and the protections that we have for religion… we protect religion. And talk about a lifestyle choice, that is absolutely a choice, gay people do not choose to be gay, at what age did you choose to NOT be gay?”
Love ya Jon, you may be preaching to no one but the converted, but you do good work.
