Hmm…

Brad Plumer has an interesting thought on the anti-gay parenting crusade, and how it relates to the battle over gay marriage, at MoJo blog:

In this month's Reason, Julian Sanchez tracks the ongoing battle over gay parenting. One quote, I think, nicely captures the bizarreness of the anti-gay-adoption position: "many policies don’t prevent gay couples from raising children; they just make life more difficult for gay parents and their children." Indeed, barring serious intrusions by the state into the American household—intrusions that no doubt the James Dobson crowd is mulling over right this very second—it's virtually impossible to prevent gay couples from raising children. So the net effect of the crusade against gay marriage will be that gay couples end up raising kids out of wedlock, and many will become, as Jonathan Rauch once put it, "walking billboards for the joys of co-habitation." Now this is just a guess, but it seems that that trend will end up undermining the "institution of marriage" far more than equality for all couples ever would.

I’m wondering if reframing the marriage debate into a movement that seeks “Family Equality” would be more difficult for the rightwing to counter. It also seems like something the ball-less Dems might even be able to endorse without looking slightly nauseous, which is more than they can do on the subject of gay marriage. It doesn’t subvert or deny the need for marriage equality, but instead broadens the subject to include parenting rights, which remains more controversial among the larger population. And yet, while encompassing both marriage and parenting rights, Family Equality sounds more red state-friendly than either alone.

Now, I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking, “Come on, Shakespeare’s Sister. A new phrase doesn’t change the underlying principles.” This is true. And yet back when Intelligent Design was called Creationism, there was almost zero support for teaching it in classrooms, and not much more when it was called Creation Science. Intelligent Design, though…well, that’s a different story—and the underlying principle is still the same.

I’m just saying…