You know, I remember debating homosexual marriage in web forums as much as three years ago, back when Nation States had cool forums that weren't populated with barely adolescent whiners and blisteringly ignorant twits (that's the nicest description I can offer, I assure you).
Anyhow, I remember back then, in my somewhat younger naivete, asking the usual question: if we legalize homosexual marriage, what stops us from later on legalizing beastiality, or pedophilia, on the same basis of sexual orientation?. Predictably, I was pounced upon by numerous debaters and mocked for making "slippery slope" arguments.
Well...courtesy of Lost Budgie, I have this to say:
Get out the sleds.
I'm sure I'll hear it before long: this means absolutely nothing, don't worry about it, we have to be more open-minded, and all the usual meaningless (and false) assurances you hear trotted out whenever something like this comes along. It's a predictable legal arc every time: first reduce the sentences, then decriminalize, then make it a protected "right". It happened with homosexuality over a period of maybe 30 years.
Four state legislators in Massachusetts have introduced a bill that would soften the crime of bestiality, a move pro-family activists say is a natural progression of the state's legalizing same-sex marriage. "They're all strongly endorsed by the state's three major powerful homosexual lobbying groups. … They're all Democrats. They're all vocal supporters of homosexual 'marriage' and whatever else the homosexual lobby bids them to do.
While the bill would keep bestiality technically illegal, it gives the option of less severe penalties. Previously, those convicted of "a sexual act on an animal" could receive up to 20 years in prison.
Explains the local weekly: "The new measure would give activist judges the option of slapping perps with a mere two and a half years in plush local jails, or even letting zoophiliacs walk with a $5,000 fine."
I'll give this new trend ten, at the outside most...ten years and someone will win a court battle and be allowed to legally marry his dog.