Gay Rights Militants to Push for Same-Sex Marriage Following DADT Victory

I knew this was going to happen. Indeed, one of the reasons I haven't extensively engaged the debate on gays in the military is because while supportive, the overall agenda dovetails with the militant same-sex marriage movement to which I'm opposed. Aggressive lobbying for it would be basically helping the other side, and I draw the line at gay marriage, which is against both nature and moral right. This is something that's been discussed here many times. And just today I added an important update on the debate, "Real Marriage is the Union of Husband and Wife." And now with the DADT repeal, we'll be seeing not just a flurry of activity in the militant gay community, but a campaign of gay marriage cheerleading in the left's Democratic-Media-Industrial-Complex. We have this at the New York Times tonight, for example, "One Battle Won, Activists Shift Sights" (via Memeorandum).



And also at this morning's Los Angles Times, "Gains Outweigh Setbacks in a Landmark Year for Gay Rights":

Today the military, tomorrow the marriage altar?



In an era when gay Americans have seen stunning progress and many setbacks in the quest for equality under the law, many believe 2010 will go down in history as a watershed that will lead inexorably to more legal rights.



Saturday's vote in the Senate to allow the repeal of the federal law banning gays from openly serving in the military is "one of the greatest, if not the greatest, victory in the history of the movement for gay and lesbian equality," said Aaron Belkin, director of the Palm Center, a UC Santa Barbara think tank that studies the issue of gays in the military. "Going back thousands of years, the marker of a first-class citizen has always been someone who's been allowed to serve in the military."



Most countries that allow gay marriage, he added, lifted their military bans on gays first.



Still, the wrangling in the halls of Congress, in courts and at ballot boxes about how gays are treated shows no sign of abating anytime soon.



"All social justice movements are two steps forward, three steps back," said Fred Sainz, spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest gay rights group. "It's always been a lot of highs and sometimes more lows, but the highs tend to be more momentous than the lows."



Social conservatives, though disappointed with the Senate vote, disagree that there is a link between the military and marriage.



"It's a tragic day for America," said Peter Sprigg, senior fellow for policy studies at the Family Research Council. "But I don't think this will really affect the marriage issue very much. It's been rejected by voters in 31 states."



Indeed, the most important victories for gays have been won this year in the courts and Congress, rather than through the electorate.

RTWT.



RELATED: At Sense of Events, "What Makes Marriage, Marriage?"



And from the gay militant commentary: Pam's House Blend, Towleroad and, AMERICAblog Gay.