February 23, 2014

Gay Marriage and the Next Round of Civil Disobedience

By Z.T. Arnold
The western world in general and the United States in particular both have long histories of civil disobedience. From Sophocles' character Antigone to Henry David Thoreau to Martin Luther King Jr., the consistent theme of civil disobedience has been conscience. Conscience, that inner voice which guides us in our deliberations on morality, oftentimes molded by our religious upbringing and beliefs, is the driving force behind an individual or group of individuals who refuse to obey unjust laws. This paradigm is very familiar to us from the 20th century when it was used both by Dr. King and Mahatma Gandhi to affect policies through peaceful protest and to otherwise act in noncompliance with the authorities as their conscience dictated. And though the Civil Rights struggle in America has been successfully co-opted by gay rights activists, the overlap between the two only goes so far. The issue of certain businesses declining to do business that coincides with gay marriage/civil union...(Read Full Article)