Dennis Prager reflects on his 1996 congressional testimony against gay marriage, arguing that "love matters, gender doesn't" oversimplifies deeper moral concerns. He emphasizes his religious belief that marriage is for a man and a woman, while noting many gay couples he knows are conservative and raise good children. Callers warn that legalizing gay marriage opened the door to policies affecting schools and gender issues.
Chapters
in San Antonio. Hello, Ty.
Hi, Dennis. Thank you for taking my call. Um, you know, and I'm going to bring this home full circle quickly. My— whenever they legalized homosexual marriage, I looked at my boss and I said— that's— he's a raging leftist, 65-year-old white guy. I said, you got what you wanted, but this is not where it stops. They will continue to move on because liberalism needs the next division tactic. And it wasn't 6 months down the road that we were worried about men walking into women's restrooms and hormonal therapy and all this the stuff. And it's amazing listening to this woman who I appreciate what she's done, but her clarity that transitions to schools and what's happening to kids, it's almost as amazing that she doesn't realize what homosexual marriage is doing to the kids and what it's doing to the institution of morals in schools, because she was very willing to argue against liberalism out of one side of her mouth. But then y'all got into a debate slightly on homosexual marriage and what it's done to the families and different things.
Well, we didn't actually debate what it's done to families. This is a very complex question. What the only— let me say a couple of things here because I know so many gay couples and I love them and I don't love them because they're gay. I just happen to love them and they happen to be gay. I don't love anybody because they are something. I love them because they're good. Anyway, When conservatives frame things in a way that doesn't comport with reality, or much reality, we do ourselves a disservice. My argument was, and it's unanswerable, the argument, otherwise there was no argument for gay marriage, and I said it in Congress, I said it a long time ago, the argument is And they said it: gender doesn't matter. There is no other argument. Love matters, gender doesn't. That was the entirety of the argument. Most Americans, or many Americans, bought it because love is a powerful word and because gays can love each other just as much as heterosexuals can love each other. That's it. And that is what has happened. I also have the religious belief, as I said to her, that God wants marriage to be between a man and a woman. Okay, I acknowledge that's my belief. But my package of beliefs are what sustain me to resist the crushing of freedom in this country. I had an atheist on my— an Ayn Rand atheist on my fireside chat. Wonderful man. We spoke for an hour and 20 minutes. My fireside chats, my weekly quite popular podcast videocast, is always a half hour. It was an hour and 20 minutes with this man. And he acknowledged that the— he is an atheist who loves liberty. A lot of atheists are on the left and have contempt for liberty. But he's an atheist who loves liberty. And he acknowledged that overwhelmingly it was religious Americans who are protecting liberty today. So, before we dismiss religious Americans, we're a package. We come with a lot of beliefs. One is God wants us to be free. Another one is that God wants man and woman to marry. That is not a statement against the gay. It is no more a statement against the gay than it is a statement against single people. God wants people to marry. Is that anti-single? In the simpleton world of the left, that is what it means. It's singlephobia. Do I hate singles because I believe people should marry? Isn't that idiotic? It doesn't matter. Idiocy is the norm today. But that's the way we should frame the argument. The kids of the couples I know are good kids. Just for the record. I don't know if that's the norm, but I don't know if it's the norm in general. It's tough to raise good kids. But of course, to be honest, the gays I know except for one case are in fact conservative. Alright, anyway, the topic was raised and I needed to address it. Okay, let's go to Roxanne in Los Angeles. Hello.
Hello, how are you?
I'm well, thank you.
I have to thank you. When I first came to LA and started listening to you, I was just a total lefty liberal, and your thoughtful advice and clarity has helped me become the wildly conservative person I am now, but I just want to point out something that I have to disagree with you on. Um, Barry's article hit home because my 4 kids have attended an LA private school that we chose precisely so that they could have a religious community. And I don't think— it's easy to say that we're cowards, but I'm the den mother for over 100 closeted conservative parents at my school. They This happened sort of slowly and then all at once, and they wield a cudgel that is so strong, and that is the accusation of racism. And we aren't concerned about college. We are concerned about our 6th graders being bullied by teachers. I kid you not. We are.
I believe you. So wait, wait. So where you are. So stay on with me. You got to tell me where, where we differ. Because we're both agreeing about the problem. All right, anyway, I want to hear, and, and I'm very touched that I touched you.
