"Somewhere along the way, standing up for gay marriage went from nervy to trendy." This was the assessment offered by Frank Bruni, an influential openly-gay columnist for The New York Times. Bruni's column, published just as the Supreme Court was poised to hear oral arguments in the two same-sex marriage cases now before it, is a celebration of the fact that, as he sees it, same-sex marriage is soon to be the law of the land, whatever the court may decide. "The trajectory is undeniable. The trend line is clear. And the choice before the justices is whether to be handmaidens of history, or whether to sit it out."
Bruni may well be right, given the trajectory and the trend-line he has described. Of course, Bruni, along with his fellow columnists, editors, and reporters for The New York Times will, along with their friends in the larger world of elite media, bear much of the responsibility for this. They are certain that their work is the mission of human liberation from irrational prejudice.
In the most important section of Bruni's column, he writes: "In an astonishingly brief period of time, this country has experienced a seismic shift in opinion -- a profound social and political revolution -- when it comes to gay and lesbian people."
That is a powerful summary of what has happened. Bruni is undoubtedly right, and he has helped to make it so. But there is something missing from Bruni's analysis, and this is something that he has helped to cause as well. The "seismic shift" on the issue of homosexuality is a profound moral revolution as well. Read more
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