Ricochet: The Sore Winners of the Left

The Left started the culture war, won it, and now roams the countryside shooting the wounded.

Getting same-sex marriage legalized now appears to have been just a beginning for progressives, not the goal that many libertarians and conservatives had assumed. With SSM accepted in more states every year and the Supreme Court considering if it should be a right in all 50, the Left is angrier than ever.

​While most Americans would have celebrated such rapid victories, a large number of so-called liberals are out for vengeance. In Indiana, a local news reporter cold-called businesses to see if they would cater a theoretical same-sex wedding. The first one to say “no” would be made an example of.

---

When the journalist asked owners of a small, rural pizzeria the equivalent of ”are you now or have you ever been a member of a traditional church?” they answered honestly. So the reporter juiced up the headline by claiming the business refused to serve gays. National outlets ran with the useful lie. The rest is mob violence history.

​Progressives threatened to rob Memories Pizza, kill the owners, and burn it to the ground. The terrified couple locked up the store and were too afraid to leave their home due to the threats. This pizza place had never been asked to cater a same-sex wedding — or any wedding ever. It had never refused service to anyone. The owners had never threatened physical harm against a soul.

Tumbrels rolled down Main Street anyway. Jealous at the online buzz, now CNN is calling random businesses to out the traditionally religious. The crowd must be sated. Dissent must be crushed.

All this time, I naively viewed the legalization of same-sex marriage as the goal of its proponents. Well-meaning people who wanted the same legal rights as their heterosexual brothers and sisters. How could my marriage be damaged by simply allowing another couple the same options I enjoy?

But for many activists, same-sex marriage was just a convenient tactic to achieve a much broader goal. Their real desire was to silence dissent. To drive the traditional, the conservative, and the religious underground. To destroy their businesses and threaten their lives. To ensure the minority understood there was no place for them in this nation.

I hope that one day, progressives will learn how to accept people different from themselves. But now that SSM is nearly a fait accompli, I’m wondering which wedge issue will be used next to hammer the stubborn square pegs into the round holes of post-Obama America.