A sci-fi version of “tolerance”

With the recent Supreme Court ruling, the gay marriage issue becomes moot. The Full Faith and Credit clause of the Constitution will, sooner or later, give legal force in every state to any marriage contract recognized by any other state.

Now it will be interesting to see whether the victorious proponents of gay marriage will show tolerance toward those who disagreed with them when the issue was still in dispute.

The above is science fiction writer and anti-gay fanatic Orson Scott Card (humorously, he once referred to marriage between two people of the same gender as itself “an act of intolerance,” openly advocated the criminalization of “homosexual behavior,” and more recently threatened to “act to destroy [the] government and bring it down” if marriage equality becomes a reality). Card is upset because some people who might otherwise be his fans have publicized his long history of inflammatory statements targeting LGBT people, and suggested that our money could be better be spent elsewhere. Among normal people, making such informed choices is known as “the free market.” For Card, though, “tolerance” demands our silence regarding his behavior.

This is actually a relatively tame example in the explosion of hysterical reactions to the rulings among the anti-gay right and its allies. Others have made various bitter and nonsensical predictions, such as that “Christians” will be carted off to jail for opposing marriage equality, or that “activists” will “attempt to force all churches to perform all ceremonies.”

At least Card acknowledges that the issue is no longer in dispute, and that ultimately the Full Faith and Credit clause will overrule regional prejudice. Perhaps he understands how the free market works, after all.

Here’s a pro tip: If Card and his allies are really so anxious about an impending loss of “tolerance” for themselves, I propose that it would be in their best interests to ensure the prompt passage of ENDA (the Employment Nondiscrimination Act, which would provide recourse against employment discrimination on the basis of gender and sexual orientation). That way, if someone like me decided to fire someone like Card because his open heterosexuality offends me, he would be in a position to petition his government for justice.