A couple of Massachusetts gay activists have decided that they don’t like the democratic process and have set up a web site listing the names and addresses of everyone who signs a petition to have an amendment banning gay marriage put on the ballot. They have named their site Know Thy Neighbor, which is an ironic use pseudo-biblical language, a twisting of the familiar Ten Commandments against which gay marriage is an abomination. Like the Hebrews demanding a golden calf from Aaron at the foot of the mountain of the Lord, they want to use the forms of religion as a tool for expressing their unhappiness with the status quo and their desire to re-shape metaphysical reality to their liking.
Imagine if pro-marriage Christian advocates had something similar. Suppose they listed the names and addresses of every gay couple who had received a marriage license from Massachusetts since the court order went into effect in May 2004. The howls of outrage and protest would be heard from every rooftop in Cambridge and Wellesley and Newton and dozens of other liberal bastions. We’d hear ominous warnings of fundamentalists intimidating and even attacking peaceful gays and their adopted children. We’d be told that it smacks of fascism and stories would be re-told of homicidal anti-abortionists shooting up clinics.
