I was reading yesterday about President Obama's "embrace" of an "incremental approach to gay issues".

"The Obama White House has accomplished more than any other on gay rights," according to the AP article, "yet has drawn sharp criticism from some of those who stand to benefit from the president's efforts."



Well, that's awfully ungrateful of us, isn't it?

As a politically active, tax-paying member of my community, and one of those who stands to benefit from the president's efforts, I can tell you it's not my impatience with the pace of legislative change that's the problem here. The issue that is especially frustrating to ordinary people who are denied equal rights and protections is not merely one of impatience.

No. It's not impatience (which makes it seem as if we're spoiled children who don't want to wait till Christmas morning to open our presents) that unites all civil rights campaigns; on the contrary, it's near super-human forbearance in the face of constant insults to our intelligence.   

Like Mike Huckabee's argument against marriage equality: "The Ick Factor", which manages in a simple catchy phrase to reduce gay partnerships to sex acts — sex acts by no means limited to gay people, by the way— and utterly demeans the quest for legal recognition of gay families. 

The casual disdain of those who take for granted the protections of the State for those who can't shouldn't surprise anyone, of course. The conferring of rights on certain populations while denying them to others unfortunately suggests the former are justified in seeing the latter as subhuman. And make no mistake, Huckabee's remarks, though casual, are thoroughly dehumanizing.  

Aside from that injury, however, there's the insult — to our intelligence.  I mean, "The Ick Factor"?  Really?  You really wanna go there, Mike? 

OK.  Let's conduct a little thought experiment [those of you with weak stomachs should skip these next few lines]: imagine Mike Huckabee having sex.  Or, if that's too much for you (apologies if you've just had lunch), just start with Mike Huckabee masturbating. 

Talk about "ick factor".

Oh, and to be equal opportunity about it: imagine, say, Al Gore, getting a total-release massage. (well, at least almost getting one — poor guy just can't win, can he?)

You see my point. There is not only a comical lack of self-awareness, but a moral blindness at the core of the "ick factor" argument against gay rights.  If we relied on The Ick Factor, none of us would have full citizenship. The fact that a complete troll like Huckabee, who is one of the single best arguments for non-procreative sex I can think of, can invoke The Ick Factor without irony tells you everything you need to know about his powers of self-perception.

The fact is, that's the best those opposing the repeal of Prop 8 in California, and DADT and DOMA have to offer.    

The Prop 8 trial wrapped out in California last week. And while opponents of Proposition 8 called 16 witnesses,  evidence from eight experts and “122 years of Supreme Court decisions”, we saw the best and brightest that opponents of equality had to offer: one witness, and the stunning claim that “you don’t have to have evidence" to deny civil rights.

Do we really want to be a nation ruled not by law, but by The Ick Factor?

Mike Huckabee, be careful what you wish for.