The gay marriage debate - who are the real victim's?

In an ironic twist, anti-gay marriage campaigners are now trying to cast themselves as on the receiving end of a "liberal" crusade.

, 25 Jul 2008

Breda O’Brien, of the Iona Institute, wrote an article for the Irish Times recently with the intriguing title: “Activists using ‘homophobia’ as a bullying tactic”. She opens her piece by patting herself on her back: “it takes courage to champion traditional marriage, knowing it will unleash invective from alleged liberals”.

So: the plucky commentator is braving the wrath of the liberal bullies by speaking out. It’s a clever ploy, because of course to challenge it is to risk sounding like a bully. It is playing the Victim card – and whenever someone does that, a Persecutor is being invoked, real or imaginary. She is appealing for a Rescuer (the reader) to come in on a white charger and save the day, to protect her and save her, and, in particular, the poor helpless children she is fighting to protect from homosexuals. Failing that, her martyrdom is certain – a person of faith tied to the stake by the forces of godless liberalism. “I told you so” being her last words, as the satanic flames lick at her feet, and the fabric of society, the old moral order, disintegrates.

In response, I could, if I wished, compete on the Victim stakes, list the experiences I’ve had as a gay man to trump her. It’s an argument I am loath to employ, because it’s an emotionally manipulative one. And yet, for so many gay people, bullying has been a visceral, inescapable reality, especially when growing up. Being bullied at school, being criminalised, having to keep one’s early relationship needs secret, being deemed to be a sinner, being classed as psychologically disordered, being discriminated against at work, being distorted and/or invisible in the media, all leave their marks on a soul. It’s hard to disidentify from the Victim role, it’s hard to argue rationally when there has been so much hurt.

It is possible, however, to identify the forces that conspired to create that awful state of affairs, for so many Irish gay people. Largely, it was an intellectually lazy, instinctively reactionary consensus in Irish life, overly influenced by celibate clergy. There was a fear of difference, a suspicion bordering on hatred of sexual expression, a shocking ignorance of human diversity, and a punitive scapegoating of a minority. At its heart was a traditional Christian orthodoxy which was embedded in the Irish political system: a theocracy.

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