Last fall, I received a good deal of e-mail from both sides of the Prop 8 campaign. In nearly every missive I received from the "Yes" said, the proponents of the measure were at pains to assure me they did not want to take away the state's domestic partnership program. The language was straight forward. They did not attack. They merely, as did Carrie Prejean, defended the notion of marriage as an institution defined by gender difference.
By contrast, the e-mail from the "No" side was overwhelmingly hostile, attacking supporters of the proposition as mean-spirited. To be sure, not all the e-mails were hostile. Lesbian friends who had gotten married just talked about their relationships.
It struck me how in the Prejean-Hilton exchange and the ensuing hullabaloo, we saw a replaying of that very campaign.
Why must so many gay marriage advocates label their adversaries as haters? Don't they even realize the irony that they are using hateful rhetoric to accuse others of hate?
What is behind this need to demonize?
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