Freedom is the issue

By Vinay Samuel and Chris Sugden
Posted February 20, 2013

Excerpt:
The heart of the gay agenda
It is this feeling of being discriminated against, marginalized, victimized, oppressed and excluded that is at the heart of the "gay agenda". Any view that suggests their sexuality and behaviour are other than the societal norm must be suppressed, including holding contrary opinions on the matter. Any expression of the view that marriage is between a man and a woman is held to stigmatize those who believe that marriage is gender neutral. Such alternative views are claimed to be prejudiced, to stigmatise others, and to be the source of unhappiness and searches for "change". Such stigmatization has to be banished from society by the state.

 Therefore even holding such an opinion is wrong - or rather causes offence and hurt, and must be eliminated. Even if the state admits diversity and plurality, certain pluralities cannot exist.

 This position is based on a view of the common good. The common good of equality is defined as equality of outcome (no one must be given any reason for feeling "unequal" to anyone else). This understanding of the common good is determined by majority opinion (which is why opinion polls and "the changing culture" feature so strongly in the argumentation). Such a notion of equality trumps everything. There is no hierarchy of rights that can be sustained in the face of its claims. There is no place for a "bill of rights" or "rights of conscience" or "freedom of belief". The state is then asked to use the law to enforce the common good. There is a contradiction at its heart, between the call for diversity (of gender relationships) and equality (sameness, uniformity) of outcome....

Conclusion
 The Same-sex Couples bill, on the evidence already of the second reading in the House of Commons, would suppress equality of opportunity, the right to express dissent, the liberty and very existence of "mediating" institutions that did not conform to the state's ideology in the name of the offence caused to those who would feel stigmatized because of the implication of their "difference". And this is being done by the Conservative Party leadership in the name of "Conservatism."

Full essay