Arguing with anti-gay bigots - By David Sirota

It's not complicated: Opposing gay marriage means treating LGBT people less equally. And that's unconstitutional

BY DAVID SIROTA

Almost six decades ago, the Supreme Court ruled in no uncertain terms that “the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ has no place” in American law. The ruling solidified the notion that separate is inherently unequal, and that it is also unconstitutional in a country whose 14th Amendment declares unequivocally that “no state shall … deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”

As discredited as “separate but equal” is, however, the Republican Party is now latching onto it when it comes to the rights of LGBT Americans. Indeed, with polls showing the GOP’s staunch anti-gay-marriage position now at odds with American public opinion, Republican voices have resorted to arguing that keeping same-sex marriage illegal somehow doesn’t mean that LGBT people are being treated as less equal than everyone else. They are additionally arguing that their opposition to legalizing same sex marriage doesn’t mean they are bigots against LGBT people.

With a Supreme Court battle over same-sex marriage kicking off this week, these absurd talking points were most recently aired on national television by the conservative nationally syndicated radio host Ben Ferguson. Watch this heated interchange on CNN from Friday, as Ferguson and I debated the inflammatory statements of Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA):



Ferguson, of course, is not alone in making this argument. The “I’m against gay marriage but not against gay people!” claim is suddenly absolutely everywhere — and took center stage at the Conservative Political Action Conference, thanks to GOP Sen. Marco Rubio.

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full article:
http://www.salon.com/2013/03/25/how_to_stop_anti_gay_bigots/