I was fascinated by today’s Times‘ profile of Eve Tushnet, the “fervently Catholic, proudly gay, happily celibate” writer and blogger.
I’m not sure if I can buy Ms. Tushnet’s argument that marriage ought to be reserved only for heterosexuals and sex only for marriage. That’s fine, I think, if marriage is defined only as a religious or philosophic institution — faiths have every right to set the terms under which their sacraments will be meted out. But I think it’s a different matter altogether when discussing a legal institution, one regulated by governments. Also, although unmarried, I like to have sex.
But I do admire greatly her steadfastness in living out her principles, the extent to which she, as she says of others, operates as if what she says “had actual consequences for [her] life, that had required [her] to make sacrifices.” I respect that commitment and can’t help but think I am only fractionally so resolute.
Plus, I think you can’t help but like a person who says, “Nothing is quite as great as getting up in the morning, listening to the Pet Shop Boys and going to church.”
