Rhetorical Ju-Jitsu

(via Daily Kos) This kind of thing makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Some gay rights activists, under the delightful moniker "Washington Defense of Marriage Alliance", are trying to pass legislation limiting marriage to people who can (and intend to) have children.

My only complaint is that they're being insufficiently devious about it. Right there, on their home page, they admit that this is a ploy to gain rights for gay and lesbian couples. They really have no intention of actually trying to get I-957 on the ballot, much less enacted; it looks like they're treating this as a form of legal performance art. I've no problem with that, but for the most part I think the people who are going to notice their protest are already sympathetic to their cause.

What they really need to do is go all out and try to actually get this law enacted. Find some nice heterosexual couples with children and make some commercials with them about how I-957 is necessary to protect marriage and finish the work that the Washington Supreme Court started in Andersen v. King County. They need to stop and ask themselves how they'd push this through if they actually believed what they were saying.

The initiative doesn't even need to win; it just needs to get on the ballot in order to bring the issue to public attention. I just think its highly doubtful that they'll get enough signatures using their "truth in advertising" approach.