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user-inactivated · 3992 days ago · link · · parent · post: Being Against Gay Marriage Doesn't Make You a Homophobe
Isn't this kind of like saying racism requires a measure of malice to be racism? Would it be any more acceptable to champion separate but equal policies if you did it with a gentle heart? Because that's what the "marriage versus civil union" debate smacks of. They're separate institutions, you see. Separate... But equal. And that's totally okay, right? The author's argument rests on the idea that if we call anti-gay marriage advocates homophobic, that leaves little impact for homophobia as a descriptor for more violent offenders. But homophobia, like racism, exists as a gradient, not a dichotomy. Speaking against gay marriage might be soft homophobia, but it's still homophobia.