The real societal risk here is for the tyrannical majority to exercise its undue power, despite Constitutional efforts to curtail them, via the referendum process – allowing the majority/mob to do so with the extra benefit of enforced secrecy of their involvement is almost self-satirical in its wrong-headedness.

Those of us who have been outed as to our sexual orientation are, perhaps, better able to pinpoint the difference here – and a vast difference it is. For us, we were outed not in something we CHOSE but in something we ARE – not by choice. And we risk real persecution on a daily basis because of our orientation – not the entirely legal, respectful “risk” of someone simply choosing not to do business with us (i.e. a boycott) but actual, physical violence towards us and our families – which I have had happen to me, personally, after I was outed.

The response to any and all questions of whether something should be kept secret is NOT to equate all secrets to “outing.” That’s about as lazy an intellectual munge as one can imagine. Is it ok for the NSA to get away with illegal eavesdropping on Americans, because to remove the veil of secrecy on the TSP program would be like “outing the NSA” and thus wrong? C’mon!

If people don’t want to be seen as mean-spirited bigots by their neighbors and associates, then perhaps they shouldn’t ACT like mean-spirited bigots and support mean-spirited, discriminatory ballot measures. There is no magical fairy godmother that protects people from the consequences of choosing to be bad people. Actions, meet consequences…

“Secrecy is a maverick element. As a practice, it has a way of breaking its borders, metastasizing until it has touched everything – an inkblot on a piece of paper. On the institutional level, secrecy can corrupt bureaucracies and mask mismanagement and incompetence. On the individual level, it can corrupt identities, creating a profusion of secret lives and leaving nothing free of its taint.”

- Patrick Radden Keefe, Chatter, p. 80

There is no “right” to people to keep their political activities secret.

Fausty

re: “Do you favor or oppose allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry legally?”

Yes = Yes, I have an opinion. Yes, I either favor or oppose.

No = No, I am neutral. I neither favor nor oppose.

Please consider cross-posting this at http://sexgenderbody.com. This post and your voice on any issues of sex / gender / body identity, rights and social interaction – would be a wonderful addition to our conversations.

Either way, you’re doing good things and please keep them up.

-arvan