2009-06-23 How Women Will Be Hurt by Gay Marriage

2009-06-23 David Klinghoffer beliefnet \Arguments against gay marriage\Judaism http://blog.beliefnet.com/kingdomofpriests/2009/06/how-women-will-be-hurt-by-gay-marriage.html How Women Will Be Hurt by Gay Marriage How Women Will Be Hurt by Gay Marriage  National support for state-sanctioned gay marriage has slipped recently. Thank goodness.

A while back I pointed out to you a midrashic tradition on Leviticus 18:3 that notes a feature of life in morally corrupt ancient Canaan: they practiced gay marriage, which is one reason God chose to displace them from the holy land, to be replaced by the children of Israel. I know, I know. It sounds so bigoted. Why be bothered if a nation chooses to officially sanction any combination of lovers that may please its citizens -- man and woman, man and man, woman and woman? Who gets hurt?

Ultimately, women do. That's the brilliantly insightful answer from a reader of this blog, Joshua Berman, an American scholar who teaches at Israel's Bar-Ilan University while serving as a senior fellow at the Shalem Center in Jerusalem. He's also the author of an excellent new book, Created Equal: How the Bible Broke with Ancient Political Thought. I'm proud to publish his reflections on the question, special to Kingdom of Priests. Keep in mind that if you want to disagree with this analysis, you'll have to explain why the historical parallel doesn't apply:

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The social history behind this piece is clear: once they've experienced sex with other men, Catullus tells us, men are unsatisfied with what their new wives provide them. Notice that the poet is unconcerned about the husband's dallying with other women -- it's the other men around that threaten the marital union. . The author is "senior fellow in the Religious, Liberty & Public Life program at the Discovery Institute", a creationism advocacy organization, and hence may be suffering from a deficit of integrity.

The absurdity of this argument only serves as further evidence that Klinghoffer believes what he believes because it's what he believes.

&ldquo;...once they've experienced sex with other men, Catullus tells us, men are unsatisfied with what their new wives provide them.&rdquo;   