Joy Behar, God bless her (and I mean that) … you never have to guess what she’s thinking. She recently made a statement on how she has heard that gay male couples do not hold to monogamous relationships like heterosexual couples.
Now, NewsBusters (where I found the video) brings the snark:
If it isn’t obvious already, Joy Behar doesn’t know when to keep her mouth shut. On Jan. 26’s “The View,” a clueless Behar accidentally tipped the agenda of much of the gay and same-sex marriage movement.
“They,” she said, referring to gays, “don’t take monogamy and infidelity the same way that the straight community does.”
Such things as fidelity, she added, don’t have the “same weight” with gays as with straights, and – you might want to sit down for this – Behar was actually right for once.
With the latest battle over same-sex marriage brewing in a California federal court, gays are claiming that they simply want the right to participate in traditional marriage. But that couldn’t be further from the truth. As a previous CMI article noted, many gays don’t want to just participate in traditional marriage. They want to radically change it.
Last I checked , Joy Behar gets paid to talk, think out loud, share her opinions. The statement “…doesn’t know when to keep her mouth shut” does not make sense. Joy is not “clueless” either. She verbalized an observation that has been effectively shut down among gay activists for decades seeking to hide any appearance that gay male couples are more promiscuous than heterosexual couples.
Truth be told, in today’s world, Gay couple’s promiscuity/infidelity is equaled by heterosexual promiscuity/infidelity (personal observation.) Marriage (as a cultural whole) has been reduced to a public policy defined set of options and perks. It is no longer seen (again from a cultural perspective) as the socially stabilizing, spiritually symbolic covenant God created it to be. This has been the case for a very long time now.
The current fundamental redefinition of marriage didn’t start in Massachusetts in 2003. It did not start with gay people wanting to “radically” redefine marriage. It started with heterosexual couples forgetting and undermining the meaning of marriage far longer (late 50’s, 60’s) than the emergence of effective gay activism (70’s.) The evidence of a heterosexual “radical redefinition” of marriage in North America was sealed in the passage of the no fault divorce policy in Canada in 1968 and the United States in 1970.
Yes, I believe that the only reason we are arguing about the gay redefinition of marriage today is because we, as a culture, abdicated the true definition of marriage 40+ years ago.
So, if we want to talk about gay male promiscuity and the acceptance of infidelity among gay couples, that is definitely a topic worth discussing. However, in the marriage context it needs to be acknowledged that what gay people are seeking to redefine was already radically redefined by heterosexuals a long time ago. Promiscuity, adultery and “open” marriage has been practiced (and celebrated) by heterosexuals for decades now.
All that said, I don’t believe two wrongs make a right. I do, personally, oppose the redefinition of marriage. However, I also oppose blaming the gay community as being the sole reason it has been “radically” undermined. Now that we are a full generation into the loss of appreciation for true traditional marriage, none of this should be surprising either.
If the culture warriors don’t wake up to the larger picture of marriage’s demise, gay people will be unfairly scapegoated as the sole reason for undermining marriage. Marriage will continue to remain in the murky void of powerless cultural relativity instead of the clearly defined and life-giving Biblical covenant.
John Westcott
Julie Neils
Exodus International Blog
Catherine H
I’ll miss you too! Thanks for posting this!
James C.
Toni Kline
Randy,
Indeed, it is in part the breakdown of the traditional family and the loosening of the marriage bonds that has created all this confusion. Vows are viewed as mere poetry by far too many. Joy is correct, but the finger could be pointed in any direction these days and, unfortunately, there are many high-profile examples. May they heal in peace.
We need to heal the marriages we already ordain, rather than adding new ingredients to the mix. Why would we think expanding the brokenness would fix anything?
Thom
Very eloquently put.
Great post, Randy.
side note: my captcha words are: veto life. Umm, weird. It kinda gave me the creeps.
Thanks Brady.
That is disturbing about the CAPTCHA code. If you get another, or anyone else gets weird combos for CAPTCHA entry … let me know.
The majority of gay men I know are Christians, most of them are evangelical and in monogamous relationships. It is also really a section of gay male culture that is so promiscuous, (rather than lesbians) so you wonder if promiscuity is more to do with men than with sexuality per se?
I think that there are lots of straight people who don’t hold up much of a role model when it comes to sexual behaviour anyhow.