Gay rights’ surprise weapon: Morality

I thought this article looked pretty interesting, and it was. It was about how the most useful tool for gay rights activists was morality rather than tolerance. At first, I thought it seemed obvious that gay rights was a question of morality. However, I think the article had a good point. People who favor gay rights have probably said many times that people should live their own lives and allow other people to live theirs. If someone else does something you disagree with, you shouldn't care, as long as it doesn't affect you. However, as logical as this argument is, it doesn't surprise that people aren't responding. After all, it seems like it has never been human nature to live and let live, despite how much better the world might be if everyone were more tolerant. I'm not surprised that arguing against the idea of gay marriage being moral was a more successful argument. Believing that everyone will stop judging and let people do what they want is wishful thinking. Arguing that love in a relationship is what matters, rather than whether the relationship is straight or gay, sounds like a more effective strategy. And with this argument, according to the article, polls have finally suggested that the majority of Americans are for gay marriage. The article relied, surprisingly enough, on logos. Obviously pathos could be used in an article about gay marriage, considering it is a controversial and emotional subject, but in this case the article was not taking a stance on gay marriage, but on the new strategy being used to promote it. With statistics and common sense, the article backed up its suggestion that morality, rather than tolerance, is the argument that will win people over.
As much as I am glad to be making progress, I was honestly surprised by the fact that only 53% of Americans are in favor of gay marriage being legal. Living in a very liberal state like Massachusetts, I guess it's easy to forget how common intolerance towards gay marriage still is. However, if the percentage of people who support gay rights is continuing to increase, I think that is a reason to be optimistic about the future. And if activists are taking a different approach to their argument, I hope this means that that percentage will start increasing faster. It's too bad if an argument of tolerance doesn't work, but if it is really as ineffective as the article suggests, it's good that a new strategy is being employed.

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