Dear Jonah,
I’m a convservative Catholic in the fullest sense of the term–both theologically and poitically. As such, I agree with the Magisterium that sodomy is a sin. However, I don’t see that position as necessitating opposition to gay marriage as it does implicate resistance to legalized abortion.
In an e-mail you posted on the Corner, one of your readers likened your acquiesence to gay marriage to National Review’s (hypothetical) throwing in the towel on abortion because Roe v. Wade is the law of the land. The two cases are hardly parallel, however, because abortion involves a right whereas homoexuality, even if you think it is a sin, only involves consensual decisions (remarkably poor decisions that lead the agent into sin, but not the violation of a right). You don’t see Catholics actively seeking the criminalization of divorce, and so should it be with gay marriage. If we had our way, everyone would be Catholic and the law of the land would be the Magisterium’s teaching, but that’s not going to happen. Better to just teach your kids it’s a sin and spend political capital on more important (and more feasible) goals such as the crimilization of abortion. Given a choice between a pro-life, pro-gay marriage and a pro-choice, anti-gay marriage candidate, I’d go with the former in a heartbeat.