From the agitation and anger of the crowds, the din of the
car horns and the shouts of "Civil rights now!" and "Bigots!"
one would have been forgiven for thinking that the protesters
were denouncing some horrific assault on human freedom.
But no, the demonstrations — and church vandalism and
business boycotts — were in protest of California
voters' passage of the November ballot measure known as
Proposition 8, which amended the state constitution to define
marriage as the union of a man and a woman. Any two
Californians can, as before, register as "domestic partners"
and have the very same rights and responsibilities as married
couples under state law. All Proposition 8 sought to do was
preserve in law what the word "marriage" has meant for
millennia.
Those who were unhappy with the electorate's decision wasted
no time in taking to the streets of dozens of American cities
and towns to rail against the audacity — the bigotry,
as they proclaimed it — of considering gender germane
to marriage.
In some cities, tens of thousands turned out for raucous
rallies; in many instances, epithets were hurled at counter
demonstrators and even uninvolved bystanders. A San Diego
family with a "Yes on 8" sign on their front lawn had their
car's tires slashed. A San Francisco area group launched a
campaign to revoke the tax-exempt status of the Mormon Church
because of its support of the marriage initiative. Graffiti
was spray-painted on a Mormon church near Sacramento.
Some, even among those who assign meaning to traditional
morality, are not greatly bothered by the push to expand the
meaning of marriage. They are content to let people call
things whatever they want, and regard the societal push to
revamp social mores as benign. The vehemence, violence and
general obnoxiousness that characterized some of the
protests, though, should give them pause.
As should Scott Eckern's forced resignation.
Mr. Eckern was the artistic director of the California
Musical Theater. He no longer holds that position because
anti-Proposition 8 activists uncovered and publicized the
fact that he had made a contribution to the other side's
campaign. Mr. Eckern explained that his donation stemmed from
his religious beliefs as a Mormon and expressed sadness that
his "personal beliefs and convictions have offended others"
and caused "hurt feelings."
But neither his words nor resignation were enough to mollify
the mob. An award-winning composer called Mr. Eckern to tell
him that he would not allow his work to be performed in the
theater with which the ex-director had been associated; and
an actress called for a boycott of the institution.
It seems clearer than ever that champions of what the Torah
considers to'eiva are not, as was once thought,
interested only on being left alone, or, as was later
thought, on being granted the same privileges as others. They
are fixated on creating a society where traditional religious
perspectives on morality and marriage are regarded, in law
and in social dialogue, as the equivalent of racial or ethnic
bias.
The scenario of religious people — and institutions
like churches, shuls and mosques — being branded as
bigoted simply for affirming deeply-held religious
convictions is around the corner. And eventual prosecution of
the same for voicing those convictions is only another corner
or two away.
What began as a plea for "rights" is rapidly, and noisily,
morphing into an assault on freedom of speech and
conscience.
Jews who take their religious tradition seriously will not
allow the shifting sands of societal mores to obscure the
fact that the Torah sanctions only the union of a man and a
woman in matrimony.
(C) 2008 AM ECHAD RESOURCES
Rabbi Shafran is director of public affairs for Agudath
Israel of America.
