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story</span></button></div></div></div><div class="LightboxWrapper-dxsWBV hhylRt"><div class="ArticlePageChunksContent-etcMtP bwyLBj"><div data-ttid="ArticlePageChunks" class="ArticlePageChunks-fLyCVG Uozmo"><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 ArticlePageChunksGrid-hfxa bjczjj grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="BodyWrapper-kufPGa EOneK body body__ntaer article__body" data-journey-hook="client-ntent" data-ttid="BodyWrapper"><div class="body__ner-ntaer"><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg">“Bt of Enemi,” openg select theatr on July 31st after months on the ftival circu, is <a href=">an entertag documentary</a> about the gladiatorial bat between William F. Buckley, Jr., and Gore Vidal that ABC News staged as a way of spicg up s verage of the 1968 Printial nomatg nventns. The Democratic Conventn, at least, required no special sce, what wh hippi, Yippi, billy clubs, tear gas, and what Abraham Ribiff, his nomatg speech for his Senate lleague Gee McGovern, lled “Gtapo tactics the streets of Chigo.” But ABC, then the unrfund, unrstaffed No. 3 work, was dire need of a dash of Tabas. Hence the nightly Buckley-Vidal knockdowns, a foretaste of the “Crossfire”-Fox News-MSNBC future.</p><p class="paywall">The climactic moment of the movie, as was of the bat, after the morator, Howard K. Smh, refers to the fact that some of the antiwar monstrators Grant Park had brandished Vietng flags prr to the police onslght. Here, full, is the relevant ank exchange of views:</p><p class="paywall"><strong><em class="small">SMITH</em>:</strong> Mr. Vidal, wasn’t a provotive act to try to raise the Vietng flag the park the film we jt saw? Wouldn’t that ve—raisg the Nazi flag durg World War II would have had siar nsequenc.</p><p class="paywall"><strong><em class="small">VIDAL</em>:</strong> You mt realize what some of the polil issu are here. There are many people the Uned Stat who happen to believe that the Uned Stat policy is wrong Vietnam and the Vietng are rrect wantg to anize their own untry their own way polilly. This happens to be pretty much the opn of Wtern Europe and many other parts of the world. If is a novelty Chigo, that is too bad, but I assume that the pot of the Amerin mocracy—</p><p class="paywall"><strong><em class="small">BUCKLEY</em>:</strong> (terptg)<strong><strong>:</strong></strong> —and some people were pro-Nazi—</p><p class="paywall"><strong><em class="small">VIDAL</em>:</strong> —is you n exprs any view you want—</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-1 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall"><strong><em class="small">BUCKLEY</em>:</strong> —and some people were pro-Nazi—</p><p class="paywall"><strong><em class="small">VIDAL</em>:</strong> Shut up a mute!</p><p class="paywall"><strong><em class="small">BUCKLEY</em>:</strong> No, I won’t. Some people were pro-Nazi and, and the answer is they were well treated by people who ostracized them. And I’m for ostracizg people who egg on other people to shoot Amerin Mar and Amerin soldiers. I know you don’t re—</p><p class="paywall"><em><strong>VIDAL</strong></em> (loftily): As far as I’m ncerned, the only pro- or crypto-Nazi I n thk of is yourself. Failg that—</p><p class="paywall"><strong><em class="small">SMITH</em>:</strong> Let’s, let’s not ll nam—</p><p class="paywall"><strong><em class="small">VIDAL</em>:</strong> Failg that, I n only say that—</p><p class="paywall"><em><strong>BUCKLEY</strong></em> (snarlg, teeth bared)<strong>:</strong> Now listen, you queer, stop llg me a crypto-Nazi or I’ll sock you your goddam face, and you’ll stay plastered—</p><p class="paywall">(Everybody talks at once. Untelligible.)</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-2 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall"><strong><em class="small">SMITH</em>:</strong> Gentlemen!</p><p class="paywall">And so on. So on, ed, for many years, wh the two gentlemen pursug their ungentle quarrel magaz, televisn studs, and urtrooms, as “Bt of Enemi” chronicl.</p><p class="paywall">The film pretty clearly impli that was this skirmish that won the battle—won for Vidal, the moment Buckley, shockgly, said the words “you queer.”</p><p class="paywall">I happen to have watched this nontatn live, on a bulbo black-and-whe TV set, and that was certaly my imprsn, too—at the time. No doubt I was fluenced by my opn of the war: like Vidal, I was very much agast (if for somewhat different reasons). Revisg the as forty-seven years later, I’m not so sure. Buckley’s feral hatred still seems margally nastier than Vidal’s sneerg nscensn. But the fullns of time, who, really, “won”?</p><div class="Contaer-bkChBi byNLHx"></div><p class="paywall">To beg wh, ’s worth notg that Smh, not Buckley, is the one who lights the fe by drawg a parallel between the Nazis and the Vietng. Buckley follows su, specifyg that what the two had mon is that both shot and killed Amerin soldiers and Mar. And he remends that Vietng supporters, like Nazi sympathizers, should be ostracized, not that they should be imprisoned or reprsed. (Vidal’s riposte—sentially, that flyg the Vietng flag was O.K. bee eedom of speech is good—is bi the pot.) In any se, Buckley do not, personally and so many words, attack Vidal as the equivalent of a Nazi. It’s Vidal who do that to Buckley.</p><div><div class="ConsumerMarketgUnThemedWrapper-iUTMTf jssHut nsumer-marketg-un nsumer-marketg-un--article-mid-ntent" role="prentatn" aria-hidn="te"><div class="nsumer-marketg-un__slot nsumer-marketg-un__slot--article-mid-ntent nsumer-marketg-un__slot---ntent"></div><div class="journey-un"></div></div></div><p class="paywall">A quibble? Perhaps. But here’s the larger qutn: Which was the bigger sult, “queer” or “crypto-Nazi”?</p><p class="paywall">In 1968, V-E Day was only as far back time as Bill Clton’s first guratn is now, and both Buckley and Vidal had done ary service (though neher saw bat) the war agast Hler. Yet so much has changed over the s that “queer” then seemed much worse. It wasn’t as bad as “faggot,” but rried a dose of ntempt as strong or stronger than most of the other risive ephets for those whom, back then, only gay people lled gay. The ldly clil term “homosexual,” which <a data-offer-url=" class="external-lk" data-event-click="{"element":"ExternalLk","outgogURL":"" href=" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">some now fd</a> to be as dub as “Negro,” was seldom seen as herently rogatory.</p><p class="paywall">Nowadays, “queer” is well on s way to beg rehabilated (or jt habilated). Dozens of lleg and universi offer urs and grant gre queer studi. There are queer film ftivals, queer arts ftivals, queer theatre pani, and queer news outlets like and No doubt there are still people who ploy “queer” as a slur, as Buckley did. Dependg upon the ntext, their targets may have a different unrstandg.</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-3 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">The termology of genr and genr inty is flux. But eventually, once the flux settl, “queer” uld end up supplantg all the rt. “Gay” is too male, “gay and lbian” sufficiently clive, L.G.B.T. unwieldy and untuive. In a popular variant, L.G.B.T.Q., the “Q” already stands for “queer” or “qutng.” In another, L.G.B.T.Q.Q., stands for both. But the chunky alphabet soups are beg creasgly digtible.</p><p class="paywall">There is a history of margalized, unpopular, or not-yet-popular groups of people adoptg sobriquets that started out as terms of ridicule, abe, or negativy. Jt ask a Quaker, a Tory, a Whig, a <a data-offer-url=" class="external-lk" data-event-click="{"element":"ExternalLk","outgogURL":"" href=" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">neonservative</a>, or the creator of Obamare. “Queer” is a venerable English word of one syllable, and, as the “<a data-offer-url=" class="external-lk" data-event-click="{"element":"ExternalLk","outgogURL":"" href=" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Queer Life at Wleyan</a>” page of Wleyan Universy’s Web se explas, ’s the only one that vers everybody ncerned:</p><blockquote class="BlockquoteEmbedWrapper-sc-SdiGL jPeLne paywall blockquote-embed"><div class="BlockquoteEmbedContent-RbGs gmbtPx blockquote-embed__ntent"><p>Many people the Wleyan muny e the word “queer”, a non-genr specific and anti-normative word, place of other terms that do not fully enpass the variety of sexual and genr inti of our muny members. While this term was ed as an ephet agast LGBTQQI… people the past, many have sought to reclaim . Radil activists the 1990s pecially ployed “queer” to signify empowerment and a sense of uny agast the opprsive heteronormative sex/genr system Ameri.</p></div></blockquote><p class="paywall">(The “I” “LGBTQQI” stands for “tersex.” And the ellipsis is Wleyan’s—prumably as a placeholr for more ials to e. <a href=">Somethg’s gotta give</a>).)</p><p class="paywall">Though Vidal never “intified” as gay—he never “me out”— was hardly a secret that the thor of “The Cy and the Pillar” was, to e his own favored term, a homosexualist. He lived large a villa, not sred a closet. When Buckley lled him a queer, he meant to be mean and ugly, and was. It was what we now ll hate speech. He immediately regretted , and eventually wrote that he had returned to his drsg room a state of spair. He knew he had done himself . Vidal had no such regrets about llg his opponent a crypto-Nazi. He knew he had triumphed.</p><p class="paywall">Leavg the malice the word was imbued wh to one si, though, what Buckley said about Vidal was <em>te</em>. What Vidal said about Buckley was not jt malic but false. Buckley was a reactnary, arguably a racist, and arguably a homophobe. His magaze, <em>Natnal Review</em>, was a passnate admirer of Francis Fran, the Spanish dictator, and has always had <a href=">a hab of likeng liberals to fascists and Nazis</a>. But William F. Buckley, Jr., was not an adherent of genocidal anti-Semism. He was not a Nazi, crypto or otherwise. To ll someone a Nazi is to acce him of embracg evil. To ll someone “queer” is merely to acce him of embracg a fellow-human beg. Vidal won the fight 1968, but he los 2015.</p></div></div></div><div class="GridItem-buujkM fVLMby grid--em grid-layout__asi"><asi class="PersistentAsiWrapper-VGrR daRVRt persistent-asi" style="posn:absolute;top:to;height:to" data-ttid="PersistentAsiWrapper"><div class="StickyBoxWrapper-jfYB jxBcTH sticky-box ArticlePageSplAdRail-OyjwD jikppc"><div class="StickyBoxPrimary-dzWDWL cdhYoN sticky-box__primary"><div class="ArticlePageSplAdRailContent-jsltpq iZDmmY spl-ad-rail-ntent"><div class="ArticlePageSplAdRailTop-jUrrVY jzzFg"><div class="StickyBoxWrapper-jfYB jxBcTH sticky-box"><div class="StickyBoxPrimary-dzWDWL cdhYoN sticky-box__primary"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssQ ad ad--rail"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--rail" data-no-id="bhvhmf"></div></div><div class="ConsumerMarketgUnThemedWrapper-iUTMTf jssHut nsumer-marketg-un nsumer-marketg-un--display-rail" role="prentatn" aria-hidn="te"><div class="nsumer-marketg-un__slot nsumer-marketg-un__slot--display-rail"></div><div class="journey-un"></div></div></div><div class="StickyBoxPlaceholr-grPmrg dxAvXx"></div></div></div><div class="ArticlePageSplAdRailMiddle-tiRvu hiZeZX spl-ad-rail-middle"></div><div class="ArticlePageSplAdRailBottom-dBKMGQ jmCMsn spl-ad-rail-bottom"><div class="StickyBoxWrapper-jfYB jxBcTH sticky-box"><div class="StickyBoxPrimary-dzWDWL cdhYoN sticky-box__primary"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssQ ad ad--rail"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--rail" data-no-id="j9l0ph"></div></div><div class="ConsumerMarketgUnThemedWrapper-iUTMTf jssHut nsumer-marketg-un nsumer-marketg-un--display-rail" role="prentatn" aria-hidn="te"><div class="nsumer-marketg-un__slot nsumer-marketg-un__slot--display-rail"></div><div class="journey-un"></div></div></div><div class="StickyBoxPlaceholr-grPmrg dxAvXx"></div></div></div></div></div><div class="StickyBoxPlaceholr-grPmrg dxAvXx"></div></div></asi></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 PaywallInleBarrierWhWrapperGrid-fyrGfS kLQIUk grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="body body__le-barrier article__body"><div class="ntaer ntaer--body"><div class="ntaer--body-ner"><asi class="PaywallInleBarrierWrapper-iBnuqk lfXXa-D" data-ttid="PaywallInleBarrierWrapper"><div class="ConsumerMarketgUnThemedWrapper-iUTMTf jssHut nsumer-marketg-un nsumer-marketg-un--paywall-le-barrier" role="prentatn" aria-live="pole" aria-hidn="te"><div class="nsumer-marketg-un__slot nsumer-marketg-un__slot--paywall-le-barrier"></div><div class="journey-un"></div></div></asi></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 ContentWrapperGrid-fvkmBv brYtrA grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="body body__ntaer"><div class="ntaer ntaer--body"><div class="ntaer--body-ner"></div></div></div></div></div></div></article><div class="ContentFooterWrapper-jVNdRG dTJkpP ArticlePageContentFooterGrid-ccsXYy eMZRHU article-body__footer"><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan"><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"></div></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan"><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="ContributorsWrapper-eNpWFu GWFsc ntributors" data-ttid="Contributors"><div class="ContributorBWrapper-bnVHbt gMon"><div class="ContributorBAvatar-bIGTqf eMWbvj"><a href="/ntributors/hendrik-hertzberg"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW jvZaPI rponsive-asset"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa rponsive-image"><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></picture></span></a></div><div class="ContributorBContent-ubQdr jZTSSi"><div class="ContributorBHear-ledood XOIEx"></div><div class="ContributorBB-fBolsO giFhKz"><a href="/ntributors/hendrik-hertzberg">Hendrik Hertzberg</a> first joed the magaze 1969. 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David Remnick prob what his ndidacy is all about.</div></div></div><div class="SummaryItemWrapper-iwvBff hNpSyX summary-em summary-em--ARTICLE summary-em--no-in summary-em--text-align-left summary-em--layout-placement-text-below summary-em--layout-posn-image-left summary-em--layout-proportns-50-50 summary-em--si-by-si-align-center summary-em--si-by-si-image-right-mobile-false summary-em--standard SummaryCollectnGridSummaryItem-WColm hKqhyj" role="button" tabx="0"><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb cPpCwE summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href=" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-4" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg bDvSkO summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg bDvSkO summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="Daily Cartoon: Wednday, July 12th" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="SummaryItemContent-eiDYMl XMZX summary-em__ntent"><div class="RubricWrapper-dKmCNX kImuKS bric bric--disvery SummaryItemRubric-dguGKN lapGFj summary-em__bric"><span class="RubricName-fVtemz cLxcNi">Daily Cartoon</span></div><a class="SummaryItemHedLk-civM dVrbhU summary-em-trackg__hed-lk summary-em__hed-lk" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-hed-4" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" href=" target="_self"><div class="SummaryItemHedBase-hiFYpQ fzzTdh summary-em__hed" 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william buckley gay

Contents:

WAS WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY, JR. GAY?THE REPUBLIN ACTIVIST WAS OFTEN READ AS CLOSETEDJONATHAN POLETTI·FOLLOWPUBLISHED ???????????·7 M READ·AUG 9, 2022--8SHAREHE WAS THE ACTIVIST WHO LNCHED THE NSERVATIVE MOVEMENT. WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY, JR. WAS A NEW IMAGE FOR THE RIGHT-WG—TELLECTUAL, AND FUN? AND GAY?

And gay?

BUCKLEY AND THE GAYS

’s civil tone on matters of homosexualy, pecially as ntrasted wh other nservativ of his era, but laments that “Buckley never challenged what he believed was a necsary moral and social junctn agast gay love, marriage and sex.

GAY HISTORY – MARCH 18, 1986: WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY, JR. PROPOS TATTOOG ALL “AIDS CARRIERS” NEW YORK TIM OP-ED

GayPatrt‘s B. Daniel Blatt is more charable, notg that, “When I was iendly wh Marv Liebman the mid-1990s, he remembered his iend fondly, notg how their iendship did not change when Liebman me out as gay to Buckley. ” But, as Sully observ, “Liebman was ed a brother bat, one of the great gay fo of totalarianism, up there wh Whtaker Chambers and Alan Turg.

But he was always remd that his gayns would bar him om full cln as an equal the nservative movement. E., homosexualy], and his art the sirabily of , is not to be nfed wh the man who bears his sorrow quietly.

A BUCKLEY COM OUT: A YOUNG CONSERVATIVE’S CASE FOR THE FREEDOM TO MARRYCHANGG MDSA LLEGE-AGE GRANDSON OF MORN NSERVATISM’S FOUNDG FAY OUT THE DAILY BEAST AND MAK THE SE FOR THE EEDOM TO MARRY. SEAN BUCKLEYUPDATED JUL. 12, 2017 3:42PM EDT / PUBLISHED APR. 26, 2015 12:01AM EDT SHUTTERSTOCKIF YOU HAD ASKED ME A FEW YEARS AGO IF I SUPPORTED THE EEDOM TO MARRY, I’D HAVE BEEN ONE OF MANY YOUNG REPUBLINS AT THE TIME WHO’D HAVE GIVEN YOU AN UNEQUIVOL “NO.”AS THE GRANDSON OF FORMER CONSERVATIVE PARTY NEW YORK SEN. JAM L. BUCKLEY AND GREAT-NEPHEW OF NATNAL REVIEW FOUNR WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY JR., I BELIEVED THAT GAY RIGHTS WERE HERENTLY ANTI-NSERVATIVE AND ANTI-CATHOLIC.BUT I BEGAN TO REEXAME MY VIEWS AFTER ACKNOWLEDGG A PART OF MYSELF THAT I’D SUPPRSED FOR YEARS—I AM GAY.MY FAY IS LOVG AND PASSNATE BUT THEY HAVE BEEN ACTIVE THE FIGHT TO KEEP MARRIAGE LIMED TO HETEROSEXUAL UPL. BEE OF THEIR FLUENCE AND THE VIEWS EXPRSED BY SO MANY MY RELIG MUNY, I GREW UP WH AN EXTREMELY NEGATIVE VIEW OF GAY PEOPLE. I WAS TGHT A “HATE THE S, LOVE THE SNER” APPROACH TO MORAL ISSU WHILE ALWAYS BEG TOLD TO RPECT THOSE WH WHOM I DISAGREED. BUT GIVEN THAT YOU N’T SEPARATE YOURSELF OM WHO YOU LOVE, TEACHG SOMEONE TO HATE THEIR SEXUAL ORIENTATN ADVERTENTLY TEACH THEM TO HATE THEMSELV. FOR ME, THIS LED TO AN TENSE SELF-HATRED AND A REFLEXIVE REJECTN OF ANYONE THAT REMBLED THE PART OF ME I WAS SO SPERATELY TRYG TO FIGHT.AS EARLY AS HIGH SCHOOL I FELT THAT MY CURRENT UNIVERSY, GEETOWN, HAD BETRAYED S CATHOLIC FAH BY SUPPORTG AN LGBTQ ANIZATN. BUT AS THE FACT THAT I’M GAY BEME CREASGLY DIFFICULT TO NY, I STGGLED TO INTIFY WH A NSERVATIVE POLIL MUNY THAT DISDAS WHO I AM, AND A GAY PERSONAL MUNY THAT LARGELY DISAGRE WH WHAT I BELIEVE.BEE I REFE TO SACRIFICE MY FAH GOD OR NSERVATIVE VALU, I HAD TO FD A WAY TO RENCILE THE NFLICTS THROUGH A NSERVATIVE LENS.AMERIN NSERVATIV HOLD MANY DIFFERENT VIEWS BUT THERE ARE SOME RE PRCIPL THAT HELP GUI TOWARD SPECIFIC POLICY PRCRIPTNS. CONSERVATIV REJECT THE IA OF MORAL RELATIVISM AND BELIEVE THERE ARE CERTA ETERNAL TTHS REGARDLS OF TIME, PLACE, OR CULTURE. WE BELIEVE THE LLECTN OF LAWS AND STUTNS PLACE TODAY ARE AN AMALGAMATN OF HUMAN TRIAL AND ERROR PURSUED THE EFFORT TO REACH THOSE UNIVERSAL TTHS. FALLY, NSERVATIVE THOUGHT MANDS REGNN OF OUR FALLIBLE HUMAN NATURE AMID THE UNRSTANDG THAT WE ARE ALL LIMED OUR PURSU OF TTH AND VIRTUE.PROGRS IS GOOD, BUT AS RSELL KIRK, ONE OF THE FATHERS OF AMERIN NSERVATIVE THOUGHT, PUT : “CHANGE AND REFORM ARE NOT INTIL.” AS HISTORY HAS MA ABUNDANTLY CLEAR, NO UNTRY OR CULTURE IS IMMUNE TO BAD IAS TAKG HOLD. REGNIZG THIS, NSERVATISM SUGGTS WE SHOULD SLOW THE PACE OF CHANGE, PECIALLY TIM OF TENSE PUBLIC DISAGREEMENT. UNR THIS AMEWORK, I UNRSTAND WHY MANY NSERVATIV THE U.S. ARE UNNERVED BY GRANTG THE EEDOM TO MARRY TO SAME-SEX UPL. JT A FEW YEARS AGO, I STOOD WH THEM.BUT THE PAST , NEVER MD THE LAST CENTURY, ATTUS AND RPONS TOWARDS GAY PEOPLE AS DIVIDUALS AND A MUNY AS A WHOLE HAVE DRASTILLY CHANGED.BEFORE 2003, WASN’T LEGAL FOR TWO LOVG, MTED DIVIDUALS OF THE SAME SEX TO ENTER TO WHAT HAS BEEN THE MOST FUNDAMENTAL BUILDG BLOCK OF OUR SOCIETY—MARRIAGE. TODAY, GAY AND LBIAN UPL HAVE THE EEDOM TO MARRY 37 STAT, WH THE NUMBER POISED TO KEEP GROWG.A CLEAR MAJORY OF AMERINS NOW UNRSTAND THAT BEG GAY IS NOT A CHOICE. GRADUALLY, THIS UNRSTANDG IS ALSO EXTENDG AMONG NSERVATIV. AND OVER 60% OF LENNIAL EVANGELIL YOUTH NOW SUPPORT THE EEDOM TO MARRY.HISTORILLY, MARRIAGE WAS PRIMARILY NSIRED AN ENOMIC AND POLIL TRANSACTN BETWEEN FAI. AS SUCH, WAS TOO VAL OF AN STUTN TO BE ENTERED TO SOLELY ON THE BASIS OF SOMETHG AS IRRATNAL AS LOVE. IT WAS NOT UNTIL THE DAWN OF THE ENLIGHTENMENT THE 18TH CENTURY THAT THE IA OF MARRYG PRIMARILY FOR LOVE ARRIVED. THOSE WHO OPPOSED THIS SHIFT SAW AS AN AFONT TO SOCIAL ORR, AND REJECTED AS A DANGERO CHANGE THE FN OF MARRIAGE—SIAR TO THE ARGUMENTS TODAY.BUT WE’VE EVOLVED, AND LEARNED THAT MARRIAGE MATTERS FOR OTHER REASONS. AT S RE THE STUTN OF MARRIAGE HG ON TWO DIVIDUALS MTG TO ONE ANOTHER LIFE, FOR LIFE, ON A BEDROCK OF LOVE AND SELF-SACRIFICE, WHICH RULTS A BETTER ENVIRONMENT FOR RAISG CHILDREN.ABOVE ALL ELSE, THE GREATT GIFT OUR PARENTS N GIVE IS TO TEACH HOW TO LOVE—AN EMOTN THAT GIV THE HUMAN EXPERIENCE BOTH THE PURPOSE AND MEANG THAT IS SO CRIL TO A HAPPY AND HEALTHY LIFE. I UNT THIS AS ONE OF THE GREATT GIFTS MY PARENTS HAVE GIVEN ME, AND HOPE TO ONE DAY GIVE THE SAME TO MY KIDS. CONSERVATIV ARE RIGHT TO ARGUE THAT THE BT ENVIRONMENT TO RAISE CHILDREN IS WH A MARRIAGE. HOWEVER, HAS NOTHG TO DO WH THE GENR OF THEIR PARENTS BUT STEAD THE LOVE THEY HAVE FOR ONE ANOTHER.MOST PEOPLE WOULD AGREE THAT THE SHIFT OM MARRIAGE FOCED ON POLIL NSIRATNS TO MARRIAGE BUILT ON LOVE WAS FOR THE BT. WHAT THEY MAY NOT NSIR IS THAT AT S RE, THIS SHIFT WAS REGNN OF A UNIVERSAL RIGHT TO FOLLOW ONE’S HEART. IN THIS, GRANTG THE EEDOM TO MARRY TO ALL LOVG UPL IS NOT A SHIFT OM THE CENTRAL TE OF MARRIAGE, BUT STEAD A FULFILLMENT OF S MOST BASIC IALS.GAY UPL TODAY ARE BUILDG FAI AND RAISG CHILDREN. IF WE AS NSERVATIV RE ABOUT PRERVG MARRIAGE AND FAY, WE MT CLU GAY PEOPLE THE EQUATN.AS A YOUNG CONSERVATIVE FOR THE FREEDOM TO MARRY, I BELIEVE THAT DIVIDUALS HAVE THE POWER AND ABILY TO MAKE CISNS FOR THEMSELV BETTER THAN ANY ERNMENT N. FOR NSERVATIV WHO LIKELY AGREE, I ASK: WHY DO THIS SUDNLY CHANGE WHEN TO WHOM ONE LOV AND CHOOS TO MARRY? THIS IS A FIGHT SPECIFIC TO THE LGBT MUNY, BUT IS ALSO A FIGHT FOR THE RIGHTS OF DIVIDUAL SELF-TERMATN—A E NSERVATIV SHOULD ALWAYS BE READY AND WILLG TO FIGHT FOR.AS THE SUPREME COURT PREPAR TO NSIR WHETHER ALL LOVG UPL SHOULD HAVE THE EEDOM TO MARRY, IS TIME FOR NSERVATIV TO REGNIZE THAT JT AS DIVIDUAL LIBERTY SHOULD NOT PEND ON A PERSON’S GENR OR RACE, SHOULD NOT PEND ON WHOM A PERSON LOV, EHER. SEAN BUCKLEY

Buckley’s ontologil ethics on the subject of gay issu sometim manifted self rather amg ways.

Several of the remembranc I’ve seen sce his passg yterday have mentned his suggtn that, “Everyone tected wh AIDS should be tattooed the upper forearm to prevent mon needle ers, and on the buttocks, to prevent the victimizatn of homosexuals. It wasn’t as bad as “faggot, ” but rried a dose of ntempt as strong or stronger than most of the other risive ephets for those whom, back then, only gay people lled gay.

THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

The ldly clil term “homosexual, ” which some now fd to be as dub as “Negro, ” was seldom seen as herently rogatory.

“Gay” is too male, “gay and lbian” sufficiently clive, L. )Though Vidal never “intified” as gay—he never “me out”— was hardly a secret that the thor of “The Cy and the Pillar” was, to e his own favored term, a homosexualist.

*BEAR-MAGAZINE.COM* WILLIAM BUCKLEY GAY

GAY HISTORY - March 18, 1986: William F. Buckley, Jr. Propos Tattoog “All AIDS Carriers” the New York Tim.

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