What’s behind the recent effort to jackboot Chick-fil-A president Dan Cathy into renouncing his devotion to his Christian faith and embracing gay marriage? It’s neo-McCarthyism. There is simply no other word for it.
The latest to hop on the “bust-Dan-Cathy’s-hump” bandwagon is New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who got in her two cents’ worth late last week.
Before I proceed with Quinn’s remarks, perhaps it’s best I recap for readers exactly what it was that Cathy said, to remind us of how relatively innocuous they were.
“We are a family-owned business, a family-led business and we are married to our first wives. We give thanks to God for that.
“We are very much supportive of the family. The biblical definition of the family unit. We know that it might not be popular with everyone, but thank the Lord we live in a country where we can share our values and operate on biblical principles.”
For those remarks, Quinn is ready to proclaim Cathy the next grand dragon of the Ku Klux Klan. She reacted to his statement of his religious beliefs by writing this, on official New York City government letterhead:
“NYC is a place where we celebrate diversity. We do not believe in denigrating others. We revel in the diversity of all our citizens and their families.”
Who, exactly, did Cathy “denigrate” with his statement? And doesn’t New York’s diversity apply to devout Christians who believe the same thing Cathy does?
In any case, Quinn went on:
“Let me be clear. I do not want establishments in my city that hold such discriminatory views. We are a city that believes our diversity is our greatest strength and we will fight anything and anyone that runs counter to that.”
One of the “establishments that holds such discriminatory views” about gay marriage is the Catholic Church. Is Quinn ready to run it out of New York City as well? Shut down St. Patrick’s Cathedral, perhaps?
I should stop here. I don’t want to give Quinn or any other apparatchiks of America’s new thought police party any ideas.
Quinn sounds like one of those devoted Stalinists deeply committed to party and party line. Those not committed to the party line, who dare not toe it, must be whipped into shape.
For the Stalinists, the party line was always the Communist line. For Quinn and others, the party line is anything supported by the gay, lesbian, transgender, transsexual and bisexual community.
A Stalinist that stepped out of line was labeled a “counterrevolutionary.” For anyone that arouses the ire of what’s called the LBGT community, the preferred words are “homophobe” and “bigot.”
Argument generally isn’t used against those opposed to gay marriage. The emotional ad hominem attack is preferred. That’s why the words “homophobe” and “bigot” get tossed around so much. Woe betide anyone tagged with those labels.
Any of this sound familiar? It should. Back during the McCarthy Era, to be branded either a communist, communist sympathizer, a red or even a “pinko” was enough to ruin one’s career and reputation.
Liberals and progressives have rightly condemned an era in which people lost jobs and reputations for simply thinking what they dared to think. So far, I haven’t seen many liberals jumping up to speak out about Quinn’s attempt to run Cathy’s business out of New York City.
None dare call Quinn’s remarks neo-McCarthyism, but that’s exactly what they are.
Examiner Columnist Gregory Kane is a Pulitzer nominated news and opinion journalist who has covered people and politics from Baltimore to the Sudan.
