Gay Rights
Oct. 4th, 2006 11:39 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
As a bi woman, what has in the past identified as a lesbian, I find the emphasis on "gay" rights limited.
This is
jaylake's take, which I agree with.
I've decided I don't believe in gay rights. I believe in human rights. If some humans can marry, all humans should be able to marry. If some humans can inherit, all humans should be able to inherit. And so forth.
At the very basest level of self-interest, if you're committed to limiting human rights, by skin color or language or surname or religion or sexual preference or any other shibboleth, you're only creating the means to limit your own rights, should you find yourself in some future minority.
This is
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
I've decided I don't believe in gay rights. I believe in human rights. If some humans can marry, all humans should be able to marry. If some humans can inherit, all humans should be able to inherit. And so forth.
At the very basest level of self-interest, if you're committed to limiting human rights, by skin color or language or surname or religion or sexual preference or any other shibboleth, you're only creating the means to limit your own rights, should you find yourself in some future minority.
no subject
Date: 2006-10-04 06:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-04 06:02 pm (UTC)For a long time, I've been saying that that's the most lethal strategic mistake the gay political movement has made.
We all know people legally eligible to marry who don't, for a variety of reasons. Therre is a whole genre of urban legend about, for instance, pensioners who live as husband and wife, but don't marry because their retirement benefits would go down. The fraction of all households with children has gone from 2/3 in 1900 to 1/4 in 2000 (with lots more consequences in other directions!). And average household size has gone steadily down.
So "gay marriage" was a blunder. We need a legal status of "household", with attendant rights and privileges.