Thursday, 28th May, 2009
Acceptance != Agreement
Group targets New York same-sex marriage bill in new ads
In particular, this quote is fascinating to me:
"The rights of people who believe marriage means a man and a woman will no longer matter. We'll all have to accept gay marriage whether we like it to or not," both ads also say.
Well yeah, that's pretty much the whole point of an opinion, is it not? You don't have to agree with someone in order to accept their point of view as valid. Heck, there are a lot of right-wing ideas that I don't agree with - that tax cuts are always a good thing, that private industry is always better than public industry, that government should legislate on moral issues such as abortion and gay marriage. But I still accept that other people might disagree with me, and respect that their opinions are just as valid as my own. If you're not willing to accept an opposing viewpoint, what makes you think the opposite side is going to respect your own viewpoint?