Evidence of one's senses

Deborah Savage is a professor at St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity at the University of St. Thomas. She is wrestling with how to deal with gay people. Rob Tisinai of Box Turtle Bulletin gives her a hand. Savage starts off with a few excellent observations, which Tisinai condenses to:

The Deborah Principle: There should be some sort of correspondence between what is so and what we think is so.

The Deborah Corollary: One’s opinion should include the evidence of one’s senses.

Alas, Savage then poses a few questions about how to tell her daughter about gay people and gets it wrong. Tisinai points out that her writing clashes with the two statements above. He then points to a way out of the difficulty.

The only way to fix this is to stop learning about gay people through intermediaries. If this issue is so important to you, befriend some of us. Spend time in our homes. Spend time with our families. Confide in us. Let us confide in you.

Find out what is. Use the evidence of your senses.

Savage responded to Tisinai's post. She'll give the matter more thought and write again in July. I'm sure Tisinai will tell us about it.



Timothy Kincaid, also of Box Turtle Bulletin, has noticed a shift in the discussion of marriage equality.

Until recently, there has been an understanding that many Americans opposed same-sex marriage, and that their objections would be voiced with conviction. Whether one agreed or disagreed, it was not considered to be outside of reasonable debate that a politician would hold their head high and declare that they “support traditional marriage” with more than a hint of “and you should too”.

And those who championed equality didn’t get off so lightly. We were expected to defend our position, to explain just why it is that our demands were justified or our ‘change in the rules’ is needed. We had the burden of proof. We started from a defensive position.

But now it is those who oppose equality that must explain themselves. Where once “I support the traditional definition of marriage” was sufficient, now even those who also fear including same-sex couples are not content with such a limited explanation. Now the trite phrase is issued – if at all – with more of an air of defensiveness than with a presumption that surely all reasonable people agree.

Which means our (at least political) opposition is falling silent.



Several organizations are set to host "Decision Day" events. These will be held on whatever day the Supremes issue their ruling on the marriage equality cases (which, by tradition, will be in the next week). Those who attend can celebrate or commiserate, get an explanation of the ruling, and maybe even plan future action. The events in Michigan will be in Detroit, Ferndale, Ann Arbor, and Grand Rapids. More details here.