Last week, former football player David Tyree came out against marriage equality. In a videotaped interview he did with NOM, he went on the record spouting all the hate-filled, manipulative lies we've heard time and time again - protect the children, one man/one woman, family, mother/father, God. Same old, same old. But then he said something new. Something I hadn't heard before. And noteworthy in its sheer, brash illogic. He actually went so far as to say that “If they pass this gay marriage bill...this will be the beginning of our country sliding toward, you know, it's a strong word, but anarchy.”
Anarchy.
Anarchy!
Merriam-Webster's online dictionary defines anarchy as:
1 a: absence of government; b : a state of lawlessness or political disorder due to the absence of governmental authority; c : a utopian society of individuals who enjoy complete freedom without government
2 a : absence or denial of any authority or established order; b : absence of order : disorder
Marriage equality will lead to anarchy - an astounding leap! Absence of government? State of lawlessness? Absence or denial of any authority or established order? Those of us who seek marriage wish to be MORE a part of society. We wish to follow MORE rules. We want MORE responsibility. We are not looking to destroy anything. Indeed, we want the structure of this country whole and healthy. WE WANT TO BE INCLUDED IN IT! We are looking to gain access to a contract that will enmesh us further into the machinations and fabric of society. We wish to become more stable and more committed to each other and to the institutions that bind us. What we are looking for is the opposite of anarchy. WE ARE LOOKING FOR BANALITY! Marriage - the squarest, most non-rebellious, middle America institution that exists - leading to anarchy?
At the moment I heard these words come out of David Tyree's mouth, I began to understand that people such as he, people who work at NOM and people who spend their time and their money traveling the country with the goal of ensuring that gay people remain in the shadows of society are deranged. Deranged.
Merriam-Webster's online dictionary defines deranged as:
1 to disturb the operation or functions of; 2 disarrange
They have been made insane by hate. By ignorance. By a lifetime of lies told first to them, then by them.
And now it seems that David Tyree is going to take his lies - his melodramatic, hate tinged, manipulative lies - to Albany, where the Senate is but one vote away from granting marriage equality to the Empire State. He will likely be listened to and taken seriously, this deranged man who spouts nonsense and calls it love.
“Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it, and eventually they will believe it”
Adolf Hitler
