The Real Polarization

(from The Globe And Mail article Same-sex solitudes by MATTHEW MENDELSOHN last Saturday)

To many older Canadians, the idea of same-sex marriage, which was not a public issue until the past two or three years, comes from out of left field. For most older Canadians, the issue doesn't fit into their mental frameworks. To most younger Canadians, it is perfectly natural. Both groups can become emotional with those who disagree because each side takes its own position for granted and neither has bothered to question its own assumptions.

Why is opinion on the issue so intense? Canada is becoming simultaneously more secular (far more people don't attend religious services), and more religious (more people who do attend services self-identify as evangelical or fundamentalist). The issue of same-sex marriage symbolizes all the differences between them.

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To supporters of same-sex marriage, the issue is simply about respect for gays and lesbians as full and equal participants in society (an idea supported by the vast majority of Canadians). But many other Canadians oppose same-sex marriage not because they're offended by the fact that this is a secular country, but by sexual liberalism, hedonism, the decline of the family, and their granddaughter wearing jeans that are cut way too low.